Beach combers

While mom has been here we managed to spend a good lot of time on the beach, which was wonderful! Beach comber delux! We found all sorts of treasures and had good fun with the hermit crabs in the lagoon, all the while getting some fresh air and exercise!

A shark's egg. Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

Shells on the beach. Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

Beautiful! Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

An interesting find on the beach! Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

A hermit crab coming to say hi! Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

They are cool little creatures! Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

Mother and daughter.

A mosey around with mom

Mom flew in on Friday, during the time that I was looking after Michiel and Bettina’s house while they were away. So she spent her first night there with me. I love the house, with fireplaces in many of the rooms, situated overlooking the sea on one side, the fynbos on another. They have beautiful horse paddocks surrounded by white fencing, a little pond with water-lilies and a big green garden. It is a perfect farmhouse. And mom fell in love with it! On Saturday we went for a walk through the fynbos, to the little hill overlooking the ocean. It was a nice day, the sun was out (mostly) although there was a rather chilly breeze. Nonetheless off we set, Zorro bounding along too, for a walk, to get out of the house for a bit, and so mom could play with her new camera! It was really nice to be out and about and show mom part of my world here in Plett, and another walk through the fynbos there is definitely in order before she leaves!

The house. Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

Zorro, checking the way was clear for us.

Mom testing out her new toy!

Me, at one of my hang-outs. Photo by Suzette Witteveen.

Mom and Zorro.

He is a handsome boy!

Storms River

For Kel's birthday the Brown clan plus one, me although I am now the big sister and part of the family, went to Storm's River for the morning. We had perfect weather! Beautiful blue skies and sunshine, and cooling fresh breeze that kept us from overheating, for the most part at least.. The plan was to walk to the suspension bridge and then have a picnic lunch when we returned. A half hour walk each way, we set off, amidst much laughter, curiosity and excitement! Over the past few weeks I have discovered that little people ask many questions, have curiosity in abundance and find wonder and excitement in the small things that as adults we overlook or dismiss. And so the half hour walk turned into so much more as we stopped often for photos and investigations and laughs. The walk is entirely on a boardwalk, with many steps along the way. For short legs this was a struggle and Kate had a piggy-back for the last stretch before the suspension bridge. Most of the walk is in the cool shade of trees and vines, with lookout points over the sea and mountains and well placed benches for a sit and bask in the beauty of life. We emerged from the cool shadows into a rather warm sun, with the bridge in sight! A steep decent down some stairs put us at the beginning of the bridge. When Mark said the plan was to walk to the suspension bridge I was so keen! I have been on the suspension bridge at Oribi Gorge which small and unstable and sways in the wind and with every footstep and you get this awesome rush walking across it! Too much fun! This was the image I had in my head when I heard suspension bridge, and so to see a well built, rather solid looking bridge I was a bit disappointed. But it still moved underfoot and the view over the sea was spectacular! We got to the other side and had a sit, rest and cool down on this beautiful pebble beach. Yes indeed a pebble beach. Not a sand beach. I was amazed that there were all these rocks ground smooth by the tide and each other and piled into this exquisite beach with piles of driftwood. And as the waves broke on the shore the rocks/pebbles shifted and rolled against each other with soothing clicks and cracks. I could easily have settled in and grown roots there for a good few hours, but thirst and hunger drove us car-ward and we begun the walk back. The steep steps that took us down to the bridge, although on a different route, seemed even steeper and higher and more tiring. The walk back was faster, with more purpose and fewer stops and we returned to the car a hot, sweaty, thirsty and hungry bunch. Lunch was a magnificent spread of finger foods eaten in the picnic area overlooking the sea. We were kept company by overly friendly Red-winged Starlings, and a slightly more cautious Kelp Gull and Rock Hyrax. As we were leaving we spotted a tern and coromorant roost! All in all it was a most enjoyable morning and we all returned home happy and pleasantly exhausted for an afternoon nap!

Stunning!

A view along the walk to the suspension bridge.

An epic gnarled tree, perfect for a rest!

Little legs needed a piggy back!

The Brown clan on the suspension bridge.

Birthday girl, Kel, and her princess, Kate, on the pebble beach.

Gull and hyrax, waiting for leftovers!

Spot them all!

Tern and cormorant roost.

River rides

I have joined Xtreme Life Church, which is a relatively new church in Plett and is as a consequence quite small which is something I have had to get used to. The church had a family chill day out on the Keurbooms river which I was quite keen for. Charl and Di picked me up in the morning, boat in tow. We arrived early to launch the boat, but skiing is only allowed from 10 so we waited and chatted. Another couple in the church also had a boat and met us there. From 10 the boat with the bigger engine was off and for the next 3 or so hours went up and down the river with an assortment of people and floatation devices. I tried my hand at skiing and decided that it was way harder than the other guys made it seem! But it was a wonderful day out, dipping in and out of the water, going on the boat, and being towed by it, and relaxing with everyone.

A beautiful day for being at the river!

Charl, captain for the day.

Josh on the wakeboard.

Investigating Robberg

Probably on one of the hottest days of my parents stay it was decided that we would go for a walk at Robberg Nature Reserve. The 5 hour walk was deemed too long (thank goodness!), and so we settled for a shorter walk to the ‘Seagull nursery’, another of my study sites. The view as you arrive is stunning, and we saw a pod of dolphins which set a positive tone for the rest of the day. What an amazing downhill trundle! Except for the ants.. They bite! The sun is warm on your back as you wander along the trail that starts as fynbos and descends through cliffs and eventually reaches the beach. A description is so inadequate of the beauty of everything. I cannot properly convey the warmth of the sun as you march along, hot but not yet a scorching burn, and then to move into the coolness of the cliffs, where amazing little flowers of yellow and purple grow, precariously clinging to the small ledges and somehow flourishing. And then to reach the beach at the bottom and throw off hot takkies to plunge bare feet into rather cold water. It is an amazing place that I will be frequenting as a study site! Also on the beach were my subjects. With six fledged juveniles in total. This is a nice relatively small colony that I hope to monitor closely. I hope to ring all the adults of the colony, as well as all the juveniles. This is a breeding site that experiences high predation by genets and otters, and I am keen to put up some cameras to catch the culprits in action in the next breeding season! After exploring the beach, and after copious photos, it was time for a swim! Another benefit of this field site is a stunning channel to dip into after a downward hike with heavy packs and after a hot few hours chasing and ringing gulls. But, man, the water here is cold! Hopefully I’ll toughen up after enough dips into the sea! Refreshed, we headed to investigate the little kopje that was the ‘Seagull nursery’. A pleasant walk around showed that the birds had finished breeding for this season. And then what goes down must go up. Up, up, up, huff and puff. In the very hot burning afternoon sun. With none of the refreshing cliff coolness. We all collapsed into the car and headed home for a much needed lunch and juice. Tired but refreshed; you cannot leave views like that and not feel buoyed.

'Seagull nursery' is the kopje on the mid-right.

A fantastic view back to Plett.

Still to be identified plants.

African Oystercatcher.

I love the yellow flowers forming a bit of a blanket.

Nic walking along the beach to 'Seagull nursery'.

My subjects!

White-breasted Cormorant.

White-breasted Cormorant catching some rays.

A little starfish I found.

Unidentified lizard.

More cool plants.

First of many!

Wow. Just wow. I fell into bed last night, a happy worn out lass. My initiation into working with gulls was a success! I left the house, all fresh and smelling like sunblock, and returned covered in poo and vomit and smelling like fish. And I was in a much lighter mood than when we left!

Thursday morning saw the entire family tying netting to 2 of the 3 freshly painted gull traps, which we were to use on the first expedition into the Kelp Gull breeding colony at Keurbooms Lagoon. I had my head in the clouds, or more likely under a rock, and was little help to the process, and also managed to fail at boiling eggs! Traps were completed 30 minutes before we left and after a hurried toast lunch we dashed out of the house and went down to the boat launch site. Eben, a wonderful man who has been working for Cape Nature for the past 20 years and helped Phil Whittington with gull ringing, took us over on the Cape Nature boat (7 adults, 2 traps and various rucksacks and bags). A 5 minute scenic boat ride later we beached on the strip of land hosting the colony and offloaded. I kicked into hyperdrive. I was more excited than a kid at Christmas! Wow. Just wow.

Birds were everywhere, the sky was full of them, they were all over the landscape, and I just couldn’t take it all in. I whipped out the camera, straight into tourist mode, and then Mark called me over. Eben had caught a chick that needed a ring. Very quickly I ringed the chick (a metal SAfring ‘K’ ring on the left leg) and then I got to hold it. First lesson when working with gulls, they bite. Hard. Over the past few weeks I have been helping Shane, an MSc student from UKZN, ring Crowned eagles (his blog is definitely worth checking out!). Crowned eagles, unlike gulls, very rarely bite, and its the feet that need to be carefully controlled and watched out for. I started off with a raptor mindset: watch the feet! I have since had a paradigm shift, watch the bill!

Over the next 3 or so hours we moved through the colony and in total ringed 3 adult Kelp Gulls and 27 flightless juveniles, as well as 3 African Oystercatchers of which 1 already had a ring on. The juveniles were either snuck up upon and grabbed or quickly chased down and grabbed. Adults were caught on the nest using the recently completed traps, as were the Oystercatchers. I was so privileged to have my family join me for my first ringing outing, and it made me so happy to see my boetie get in there too! Mom was the ever present photographer, Nic helped with catching, and Dad and I ringed and caught. Both Dad and I have 2 new species to add to our ringing lists, Kelp Gull and African Oystercatcher.

Throughout the few hours I was poo-ed on, vomited on and bitten, but what an experience! We celebrated a successful afternoons ringing with pizza on the beach and retired home weary but elated! I am so very excited for the next two years! I know that it is going to be hard work, with trials and tribulations but the rewards are going to overpower all else! Here’s to an eventful MSc!

Working on the traps.

Nic tying on netting.

Family manual labour!

Aliens have landed, over.

Dad surveying the scene.

First juvenile to be ringed, and the first to teach me to keep my face out of proximity!

First adult to be ringed.

Disgruntled volunteer walking away with it's new rings.

Taking a gull out of the cage while being watched.

Mark working like a boss!

Measuring my first African Oystercatcher after ringing.

Mark holding while I measure.

Mom the photographer!

Nic getting involved, with smiles all round!

It's so fluffy!

King of the castle.

Juvenile Kelp Gulls.

Another reminder to watch the bill!