Witsieshoek birding, Mar 2015

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• List of birds

Hoping to catch up with some high-altitude species like Drakensberg rockjumper, Drakensberg siskin and Bearded vulture, we headed down to Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge for the weekend, together with our friends Ian and Margaret Koegelenberg. The Koegelenbergs still had a function to attend on Friday evening and was only leaving home afterwards; we left Middelburg just after 2pm, reaching Harrismith around 6pm. Ian and Margaret arrived at midnight and we settled in for a few hours’ sleep before getting up at 05:30. Despite heavy lightning the previous night and a forecast of 60% rain for the weekend, the skies were clear and after breakfast we drove out to Bergview stop to leave Ian’s bakkie while we went birding around Harrismith in the X-trail. The birding was not overly exciting but some highlights included Blue korhaan, Eastern clapper lark, Red-throated wryneck, Cinnamon-breasted bunting, Banded martin, Alpine swift, Southern bald ibis and a Secretarybird. After picking up Ian’s bakkie again, we drove in convoy through Phuthaditjaba and then up into the mountains, stopping for lunch on the paved road just beyond the Witsieshoek toll gate. Ominous clouds were building all over the escarpment and the Witches were poking in and out of swirling mist above the Sentinel car park. Birding on the road towards Witsieshoek was very quiet and apart from Bokmakieries, Red-wing starlings and Cape crows, there wasn’t much else. We stopped at Witsieshoek to check in, then left the bakkie again to drive up to Sentinel car park in one car. Although they have now started paving the road back from the car park as well, sections of it seemed to not have been maintained in the last five years and looked worse than I’ve ever seen it. Old Jacob, the guard at the car park, still remembered me after all these years and he allowed us out behind the fence to see if we could spot any Drakensberg rockjumpers. But with the static electricity positively humming around us, the birds were quiet, and we left again without adding anything. Back at Witsieshoek we watched the fog roll in from Ian and Margaret’s room, having coffee and banana cake. After a very pleasant shower it was off to a buffet dinner in the restaurant and then a peaceful night’s sleep, only slightly interrupted by the bangs of lightning and the tap-tap of rain.

Nicola and I were up at 05:30 and had a quick cup of coffee and tea before doing some birding along the entrance road of the Lodge. Clouds were high but heavy and a strong wind raced across the ridge. There were plenty of Malachite sunbirds and Bokmakieries to entertain us but nothing worth mentioning apart from that. At 7am we went for breakfast while Ian and Margaret still had a bit of a lie-in. We were ecstatic to see a single Bearded vulture fly over the Lodge and investigate the usual spot where bones are left for it. Around 8am we made our way to this “vulture restaurant” along with a film crew from Homebrew studios. These guys wanted close-up shots and action footage of the vultures and had very strong opinions about where they wanted to film from. The lodge staff member who put the bones out kept telling them that the vultures are not going to come with them standing so close. Nicola and I took up station in a small ruin about 50m away and Margaret came to join us about 10 minutes later. But by 9am, predictably, no vultures had appeared (we did have a Black harrier and Jackal buzzard fly past though) and it was time for us to start our trip back. The weather was pretty good a little further down the mountain but try as we might, we couldn’t find any rock-thrushes, francolins or blackcaps and by 11am we headed back to Harrismith. After filling up with fuel we did a little more birding along a dirt road running east of the N3 but by noon we gave up and turned back home. It was a very pleasant weekend up in the hills and really nice to share a birding trip with friends – it also means more eyes to help spot birds!

The newly upgraded huts at Witsieshoek are a little out of our normal price range but they really are quite nice and considering the howling wind and driving rain we had overnight, it was so comforting to not be sleeping in a tent! The birding was a little disappointing but we did decide not to go up the chain ladders due to the threatening weather so we never really had a good chance of seeing the rockjumper or siskin anyway. I’ve had better views of Bearded vulture and that we missed the chance of seeing it feeding at the vulture restaurant was also a bit disappointing. However, I did add six new birds to the annual tally, now standing at 652

Drakensberg Apr 2013

Links

• List of birds

Brian, Rhona and Tamsyn spent the night at our place and just after 8am on Friday morning we left, driving to first to Harrismith via Bethal and Standerton. In Harrismith we had Nando’s for lunch before spending 2 hours to get to Bergville on the road past Sterkfontein dam. The road is in horrendous condition and although there’s some pretense in fixing it (chevrons in the middle of the road with an occasional Stop/Go section that’s universally ignored), there are actually kosmos growing through the middle of the road in places. What a disgrace – it’s going to be a very long time before I’ll attempt driving this particular route again. Despite the road, we arrived in the Cathkin area in good time and it was a glorious afternoon as we pulled into our accommodation at the Bergview estate just outside Drakensberg Sun hotel. After unpacking the cars and getting settled, we started a fire and soon after Rhona and Nicola’s cousin Richard and his friend Andrew showed up. Our firewood turned out to be miserable braai wood and after getting a smoky flavour we had to stick all our meat in the oven to get cooked. After a great dinner we played 30 Seconds until past midnight, wished Brian a very happy birthday and turned in.

Tentative plans to go for an early morning birding walk evaporated quickly in the morning as we lazed around the house at breakfast and later strolled down to the hotel and its lake. Around 11:30 we drove to the Waffle hut outside Winterton to celebrate Brian’s birthday and then visited several craft and souvenir shops on the R600, eventually getting back home around 3pm. Another lazy afternoon was followed by an excellent dinner. While Andrew and Richard went to watch a local comedian at the hotel, the rest of us had our own comedy session while playing three rounds of 30 Seconds. It was another late night but after 12, not even the coffee could keep us awake anymore and off to bed we went.

Sunday morning was definitely going to see some birding getting done. Rhona, Brian and Tamsyn left to spend the day at Cathedral Peak while Nicola and I took the trail up to the Grotto birding in the forest along the way. Initially we struggled a little finding the path but when we did it was nice and easy walking. Apart from a few common birds on the way into the forest, we picked up Brown-throated martin, White-rumped swift and Southern boubou. The forest itself had many parties of Cape white-eyes that seemed to follow us because around every corner was a group of four or more feeding in the low and mid stratums. On several occasions these were joined by Yellow-throated woodland warblers and even two Forest canaries that made a quick appearance. A strange looking bird had us perplexed for a short while but after browsing the field guide we discovered it was a ruddy form Olive bush-shrike. We had great views of this pretty bird sitting at times only 2 metres from us. Bar-throated apalis and Cape batis were also common but our sighting of day was certainly a short but cracking view of a Bush blackcap – our first for KZN! Higher up in the forest we also heard Sombre greenbuls before we arrived at the Grotto around 11am and sat down for a quick bite to eat and some water. Then we proceeded up the trail, quickly climbing out of the forest where the Canopy Tour starts. From here it was just a matter of walking down the dirt road back to the hotel and we reached the house some time after mid-day. A shower and lunch was followed by a lazy afternoon before getting another braai fire ready for dinner. Brian, Rhona and Tamsyn arrived around 5pm and we spent the rest of the evening chatting about all the fun we had during the day.

With plans of doing some birding along the way back home, we had to get an early start. At 7am, Nicola, Tamsyn and I were ready to go and after a tearful goodbye, we were on our way. Our first stop was Spioenkop dam Nature Reserve. A few distinctive calls like that from Golden-tailed woodpecker and Chinspot batis greeted us as we entered the reserve and while still on the tarred section we got a nice surprise: Brown-backed honeybird. In the thornveld we added a number of typical bushveld species but nothing of particular interest. The dam itself had very little to offer but as the tracks in the reserve seemed to be much more extensive than indicated on the map, we thought it a good idea to return to the reserve on a future trip. At 10am we turned around and paid a visit to Ladysmith's sewerage works. This was unfortunately quite a let-down. Despite a very helpful lady pointing out where we could watch birds, the place is unsafe, completely overgrown and has zero facilities for birders. After picking up Yellow-billed egret, African purple swamphen, a few White-faced ducks and an African pied wagtail, we left. It was now already almost noon and with a long way ahead of us, we got onto the N11 back home. Between Ladysmith and Newcastle we ran into a 15km section of road works where they forced you to drive 40km/h on average by putting up speedbumps every few 100m. Having bounced over 57 of these in more than 30 minutes it took us to drive this section, we had little pleasant to say about the current condition of SA roads. This was not helped by another stretch of 43km of horrendous road between Amersfoort and Morgenzon. For the past 5 years we have not been able to drive anywhere in the country without running into major road works, pathetic roads or countless Stop/Go sections. We wonder if it will ever end... But there's no point about complaining about this as we had a fantastic time in the 'Berg with friends and family and we look forward to seeing them again, hopefully in the not-too-distant future.

Drakensberg (Amphitheatre) hiking and birding, Feb 2012

Links

• List of birds

After picking Nicola up from work, we drove without incident down to Phuthaditjaba, arriving at Sentinel car park around 19:30. The hut was virtually fully booked so we decided to sleep in the back of the car.

Day 1 (25 Feb): After a reasonable night, we woke to clear skies. With breakfast over, we signed the mountain register, packed our bags and took a slow walk up the zig-zags. Resting on top of the zig-zags we saw Bearded vultures and Alpine swifts and while on the contour path, two Verreaux’s eagles flew across the face of Sentinel. Shortly before Sentinel cave, a confiding female Drakensberg rockjumper sat still for a few pictures. We dropped our packs in Sentinel cave and packed a daypack with snacks, water and rain gear before we set off to the chain ladders. Past the chain ladders we still had sunny weather but clouds were building up on the Amphitheatre. Across the Tugela bowl we spotted some pipits and after some careful scrutiny of the habitat and habits, we concluded it can only be Mountain pipit. We climbed slowly but steadily towards the summit of Mont-aux-Sources, adding Greater kestrel, White-necked raven and Cape vulture as well. Finally we reached the summit cairn around 11:30 and had a quick rest and some snacks before setting back down in the gathering clouds. Low in the Tugela bowl we spotted a very streaky canary-looking bird that we later easily identified as a female Drakensberg siskin – lifer number 3 for the trip! Back down the chain ladders we arrived in Sentinel cave just before 2pm, made some Game and settled into our sleeping bags for an afternoon rest. Barely 15 minutes after we arrived, it started raining and we were very glad to be warm and dry! Dinner was done early and we sat down to watch the fading light with a cup of tea, before going to bed.

Day 2 (26 Feb): A quick breakfast and fast packing saw us on the move by 06:30. It was an easy walk down to the car and we arrived back before 8am. On the way back home, disaster struck when I got sideswiped by a taxi in Phutaditjaba. Luckily there was a police station right around the corner but it still took an hour to make the accident report and get all the driver's details. Back on the road we stopped in Harrismith to get some marsala chips and eventually got home before 3pm.

An enjoyable weekend with both our hiking and birding targets met!