Fun, but busy day. SUPing (not me – I ‘togged), Wine farm (wind-related carnage), Airport trip (before loadshedding).
More on everything another time, but not right now.
Here’s an African Dusky Flycatcher to keep you entertained.
Thanks for your understanding.
I’m not a fan of mosquitoes. One (or more) of them once gave me malaria in a dodgy lab in London, and while I haven’t had that misfortune again since, they still eat me. A lot.
I’ve written about this here and here. Also here. And here, and… er… here.
But while wandering around Kirstenbosch before breakfast this morning, I found that I wasn’t the only one being chowed by the little bastards.
We stopped to take a photo of this lizard, who was posing on a tree stump about 5 metres away, and when I lined the shot up…
Look at that on his back!
Remember that I’m not a wildlife expert, but that looks very much like a mosquito to me.
I feel quite sorry for the lizard, because lizards don’t have the benefit of antihistamine medication, so he is going to be ITCHY later. But I’m also quite glad he’s getting nibbled, because (and obviously, I recognise that this is a massive oversimplification of the situation), that’s one full mozzie that won’t have to eat me this evening.
The quotation marks are because Kirstenbosch is somewhere we go fairly often anyway. Not like yesterday’s trip out.
Anyway, I was there this morning with my dad and my camera, and I managed to get a couple of images despite a somewhat quiet morning on the wildlife front.
I don’t profess to be an expert in these sort of things, but I’m fairly confident in saying that what we have here is a bird, and a frog.
I’m aware that it’s possible to be far more specific with classifying birds and frogs, but basically, as I understand it, the further you go down that road, the more likely you are to be incorrect. And so I’m sticking with my original identifications, and leaving things at a much more general – but also accurate – level.
A bird and a frog, then. In that order.
Amietia fuscigula & Cinnyris chalybeus for the curious and the taxonomists out there.
Some point and shoot fun with the 50mm prime in and around the Company’s Gardens this morning, where my Dad and I got some breakfast and had a nice little wander on his birthday. Don’t ask which one, I think we’ve all lost count. I can write that in safety knowing that I’ve just made him a G&T by the pool.
Everything here from Cecil John Rhodes doing a Nazi salute to a Julia Skimmer (Orthetrum julia) on the edge of a pond; from fire damage to some of the Parliament building to a gosling; and from some happy words from JC through to some brutal (but not brutalist?) concrete and art deco architecture* on Wale Street.
I was actually incredibly impressed by how neat and tidy the whole place was. Really well looked after, and we always felt really safe and relaxed.
Still plenty of tourists around too, and a quick sighting of the MI Cape Town XX SA (IPL) T20** team including (but not limited to) pace bowler Kagiso Rabada…
…emerging from their hotel amidst flags and loud music, ahead of their game against the Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
* I dunno. Is it? I do science, not building. The 6000 miles… Yachting Correspondent will know. I’ll confirm once he’s been in touch. The pink one is definitely art deco. But it’s not on Wale Street.
** Good grief.
A quick touristy trip around the peninsula today – sticking coastal to avoid the oppressive heat.
Baboons – no
Ostriches – yes
And this tropical (unedited, phone pic) view from Scarborough:
Yes, yes. Never mind the people ignoring the “dogs must be on a leash” sign they just walked past. This is South Africa, so that meant other people’s dogs.
Rather just look at all the colours – but not too much: after all, this is South Africa.
It made me wonder what things were like in the original Scarborough today. So I found a webcam and took a look:
Mmm. Still some hardy souls on the sand there. And is that someone sitting on the bench in the foreground? Nutter.
It might have been hot here today, and I do love a seaside resort out of season, but I think I’d rather have the shiny blues and crystal clear water, thank you very much.