Wrapping up Springfontein

We have been visiting our wind farm site in Springfontein for a year now and this week was our last session.  It is a large site and we stay for a week, wonderfully looked after by our hosts at Prior Grange Guest Farm, the de Swart family.  There are quite a few birds on the site, some of them threatened or vulnerable.  It's our job to map them and their flight paths and roosts.  

Secretary Bird (Sagittarius serpentarius)

One of the first birds we found on our very first day was this lovely Secretary Bird.  They are not that common and it is an absolute treat to see them.  This one was walking along the side of the railway line, prodding around for prey.

Day two brought us back to our control site where the farmer insists on hanging up Cape Foxes that he has killed, on his fence.  The carcasses from the last visit are still hanging, now just dried out skin and a bit of bone. There were 2 new carcasses.  I have to do some research and see if this theory is widely believed and if it is effective.  I hope not.

Cape Fox (Vulpes chama)

Day three was a very interesting day.  Early in the morning we passed a little stream on one of our main access roads and found two Hamerkops feeding in the water.  We parked to watch one of them stomping his foot in the mud and unearthing frogs which it very quickly gobbled up.  It was pretty cold so the bird didn't have much energy to fly away while we watched and took lots of photos.

Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta)

Earlier that morning we had been watching a beautiful little Acacia Pied Barbet on the bird bath at our cottages.  Beautiful colours.

Acacia Pied Barbet (Tricholaema leucomelas)

During the day we stopped off to monitor a water body and while there weren't many birds on the water, we were thrilled to find a Cape Clawless Otto ducking and diving and scratching the bottom of the pool looking for food.  He was a treat to watch!  

Cape Clawless Otter (Aonyx capensis)

During one of our walk transects we noticed strange extended silk webs along the ground under the bushes.  At first I thought it was spider webs but we soon noticed hairy caterpillars busily spinning the webs.  I have no idea what species they are but they are very interesting. 

And that evening, while starting our bat transect, we had a truly spectacular sunset.   Karoo sunsets are hard to beat.  I'm afraid the photos do not do the real thing justice but I had to try.

Day four was the day we did our first drive transect and we spotted a birding lifer for David, the White-browed Sparrow-weaver.  We drove through the little town of Bethulie (of Boy From Bethulie fame...) and then over the Orange River.  It is huge, the biggest river in South Africa.  Although it wasn't full and had large islands in the middle of it, it was still very impressive.

White-browed Sparrow Weaver (Plocepasser mahali)

One of our jobs is to check for nests and on a previous visit we had noticed some nests on pylons along the road.  We had seen Lanner Falcons flying around so suspected they belonged to them.  At this visit, it was the first time we saw an individual actually sitting on the pylong alongside the nest.  The pylon is quite far from the road and very high up so not a good pic, but its a record shot anyway.

Lanner Falcon (Falco biarmicus)

Day five saw us driving around the site as usual.  The Cape Ground Squirrels are very common in the area and we see them all the time. They dig an extensive network of inter-leading burrows making a whole underground village.  These are often on the side of the farm track we drive regularly with our big heavy 4x4's. I am always afraid we will drive over a hollow section and crash right through to the burrows but so far we have managed to avoid destroying their underground homes.

Cape Ground Squirrel (Xerus inauris)

One of the smaller terrestrial birds we encounter from time to time are the Grey-winged Francolins.  They are so intricately patterned, it makes them so special.

Grey-winged Francolin (Scleroptila africana)

Our second last day was filled with mountain top vantage points and walk transects as usual.  Thankfully the wind had died down and it was quite pleasant up there.  The area is extremely dry and dusty as it is a summer-rainfall area.  But the view is still good, even if it is of practically dead grassland.

And then it was night!  Our bat transect started at 17h30 and the temperature was around 12deg C.... by 19h40, at our very last bat transect of the whole campaign, it was a shockingly low 0.9deg C~!!  We felt crazy to be out in the dark night, driving across dusty fields looking for bats that were surely nicely wrapped up in their roosts, not out and about like we were.  This was my record for the coldest bat point ever, beating my previous record of 2deg C on a different Karoo site about a year or so ago.  Thankfully it was our last point and we could make our way home to a nice hot meal and a cozy fire to help us defrost.

On our last day, we wrapped up tasks we still had to do like our second drive transect that took us all through the site and on towards the town of Philipolis.  On the way we stopped off to check on some Hamerkop nests we had discovered on earlier sessions.  We parked the vehicle and climbed up the small rocky outcrop to the nests and looked down at small stream that was flowing beneath us.  For the second time, we discovered a very gorgeous, young Waterbuck foal safely hidden in the reeds.  He just sat and watched us at the top of the outcrop while the adult buck climbed higher up the mountain away from us. Look how beautiful he is!

Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus)

The Hamerkop nests on the ridge are very old and currently unused but they are so big, I think they will be there for many years to come.

Hamerkop nest with side entrance

And that brings us to the end of our stay.  32km's of walked transects, 12 hours of mountain top vantage points, 68 bat points and many hundreds of Km's driven over bumpy, organ-shaking roads.  Roasting hot, cheek-burning days and freezing cold nights, all make up one session at Springfontein.  There have been 6 sessions but I have only been to the last three. Hopefully I can be part of the post construction team if the wind farm goes ahead. Only time will tell.

We left Springfontein at 05h30 this morning and got stuck behind countless slow-moving trucks on the N1 to Bloemfontein that had me stressing about missing our 08h00 flight back to Cape Town but we made it.

I really enjoy this site and enjoy staying the Prior Grange Guest house.  Sheryl makes the most delicious meals, Blackie and Steven keep us well entertained during "happy hour" in their museum cum pub and the Willow cottage is wonderfully comfortable and while a little cold, it has a cozy fire, gas heater, wall panel heaters and electric blankets to keep us warm.  Thanks so much, we will be back soon for a visit!

Guest house owner and published author, Blackie de Swart with me in the Willow Cottage