As mentioned in an earlier post, hubby and I attended a meditation retreat at the beautiful and supremely peaceful Bodhi Khaya Retreat Centre outside the village of Stanford in the Overberg. During our 9-day retreat in early November, I took hundreds of photos. That place really is a paradise for a wannabe photographer! Unfortunately, I…
Haa-a-a-a-a-tchoooo!!!! Every year during springtime, there is a conflict between the local residents of Pinelands who want to keep the beautiful wild spring flowers on the grass verges flowering in our neighbourhood for as long as possible, and who thus get mightily upset with the city council when their squadrons of mowers come roaring down…
We had some hot days in February and March this year, and so I’ve been making sure that our various bird baths are always filled with clean water. I love watching the birds swooping down on our garden at various times of the day – it is one of the delights of working from home.…
As I told Kathy earlier today, a Cape Robin (or Cossypha caffra) suddenly appeared in our garden this afternoon. I’d just hauled off another bag of weeds to the rubbish bin, and was about to kneel down in the flower beds to pull out more weeds, when I sensed a flutter of wings among the…
Yesterday morning, on a walk through the neighbourhood, I spotted a pair of Egyptian geese on a grassy verge up ahead, near the traffic circle of Woodside Drive and Francis Road. The grass was very tall and overgrown, so I could just recognise the two large birds with their striking colouring. As I approached slowly,…
Early in August, I wrote about the pair of Hadeda ibises nesting in the big tree in our neighbour’s garden. Here are two of them in silhouette: And this is one of the little ones, apparently trying to get Mom to regurgitate some food for him: Well, we’ve been keeping an eye on the fellas,…
Imagine the scene: It’s just after 5h00 in the morning. The world outside is wet, sodden, soaked through after a whole day of rain, rain, rain. It was still raining when you went to bed, and you were aware of it raining through the night. You’re snuggled deeply underneath the duvet, head buried under the…
I am thrilled to report that a pair of Cape Bulbuls seems to be looking for accommodation in our neighbourhood. I am very curious to see where they are going to build their nest. Look! A few seconds earlier, they’d been sitting companiably side by side, their feathers fluffed up slightly by the wind. I…
A week ago, I wrote about the pair of Hadeda ibises nesting in the big tree in our neighbour’s garden. Well, it seems that they have been successful in procreating: they have two little ones! We’ve seen them being fed, and managed to get a photo of Mumsy (or Daddy? hard to tell) snuggling them…
Over the last months, I’ve managed to photograph a range of birds in our garden. I’d like to introduce you to our beloved feathered friends, some of whom you’ve probably seen before. Cape Sparrows These two adorable Cape Sparrows (Mr and Mrs Sparrow) are currently nesting (methinks) underneath the dilapidated shade-roof near our garden sheds,…
A couple of days ago, when it was unseasonably warm and the birds kept emptying out the various bird baths with their vigorous splashing, I sliced up some oranges and left them dotted about the garden. And I was really lucky to see this little fella, a Cape White-Eye, having a hearty lunch. I think…
Argh! No! Mr and Mrs Sparrow’s brand-new and not-yet-finished nest was blown down off the security light last night. I feel desperately sorry for them. They looked quite upset this morning, chirping and fluttering helplessly around the pile of twigs, grasses and fluff on the ground, which is all that remains of their nest. So…
Over the last couple of years, two little Cape sparrows have repeatedly built their nest ontop of the security light in our back garden, right beneath the eaves of our house. They picked a really good spot, I think, because it’s sheltered from the rain and the prevailing wind direction. A month or two ago,…
A week or two ago, I happened to find myself in Harfield Village, a rather quaint part of Claremont, with the intention of hand-delivering a copy of my book in a friend’s postbox. I slowly came a-pootling around the corner of one of those tiny lanes where you hope fervently that you won’t encounter any…
I got called outside by a terrible racket in the back garden. It sounded like a full-on row between two pairs of hadedas. Now, ONE of them squawking and screeching is bad enough, but all FOUR of them? An ear-splitting din! When I came rushing out, I barely caught a glimpse of them on the…
Grains of Sand 
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