Spotted Gully Shark

A trip to the peninsula after a spell of cold water yielded a surprise, a Spotted Gully Shark! Thought to have made it's way to the estuary in search of warmer water, it ended up close to shore and Shirley and I were able to see it up close and personal!

Spotted Gully Shark.

Sedgefield walk

Shirley and I joined the Lakes Bird Club on the first walk of the season to survey the Sedgefield Oystercatchers. It was an opportunity for the two of us to go to a new area and make some new contacts. We made the long trek and landed in a spectacular place! There was a large group of interesting people that were gathered, and it was a good walk, and we managed to find a few nests. All in all a productive and thoroughly enjoyable day!

Spot the nesting oystercatcher!

Not so easy to find!

A lion.

A whale bone, perhaps from a humpback.

To put the size of the blow-hole in perspective!

The underside of a washed up sea urchin.

A large octopus rescued from a shrinking rock pool.

A beautiful beach indeed!

Peninsula

A day out after the storm.

The beach after heavy rains and rough seas, the colony minus a few nests.

Waiting for the other brother to hatch.

A hatched egg shell.

Three Sacred Ibis chicks.. a large clutch.

A very protective momma.

A little too big to hide in the bushes!

Lookout

An interesting day on Lookout.

Harold the crab..

... has two legs!

Friends?

A gull which has been incubating 2 gull and 3 goose eggs!

Quest Africa

A group of young men from Quest Africa joined the Nature’s Valley Trust team for a few days to experience what they get up to. Part of that was joining Shirley and I on the beach where we managed to trap both a gull and an oystercatcher to demonstrate ringing, as well as show the species differences. I also benefitted from a few hours of regurgitated pellet dissections, yay! On their last day Shirley and I joined them for a walk on part of the Otter Trail, amazing!

A view along the walk in Nature's Valley.

The viewpoint looking over Nature's Valley.

A motor boat!

Plett is a place of generous people! We have been given a boat and bought a new Parsun motor for an amazingly low price! The boat is courtesy of Louis Ollerman and the motor is from Parsun Southern Cape. Errol, Kenny and Butch from Parsun have been so helpful and kept Shirley and I high and dry and moving forward on the water! Even going so far as to rescue me on the estuary when I ran out of petrol (new boater stupidity!). I have been having so much fun with the boat, and it saves Shirley and I from paddling a heavily laden canoe to the peninsula and back!

Paddling out past weeds that would clog the new motor.

And we're off!

Trips to the peninsula have just become so much easier!

Post-trip maintenance instructions.

Always remember to close the air valve and turn the petrol off!

Errol, myself and Louis.

Errol, myself and Kenny.