Saturday evening walk.

Spring is sprung, (well almost but not quite). Last week was hot and dry, very hot and very dry, the start of the August Berg winds. Following close behind the Berg winds was a cold front from the south, by Friday the cold front had enveloped basically the whole country bringing our first rain of the summer, much earlier than usual but very welcome indeed. Saturday the weather started clearing and the sun came out. Spring "officially" starts the 1st of September, but yesterday and today feel like spring days.

Click to enlarge.

A pair of Egyptian geese enjoying the sunshine.

A Swainsons francolin in the rays of the late afternoon sun.

A spurwing goose, Africa's largest goose, enjoying the lush green wheat.

A pair of Egyptian geese that had just taken off, the wings of the bird on the left has just reached the bottom of the down stroke, the primary feathers are all over lapping to give maximum lift. On the right this birds wings are starting their upstroke, the primary feathers are all separated to so that there is minimum resistance as they move upward. This happens automatically, pilots on propeller driven aircraft can do a similar thing with the propeller of an engine that has to be switched of in flight, it's known as feathering the prop.

The pair in full flight.

An antelope spoor imprinted in the dried mud, probably a mountain reed buck. There is plenty of wildlife on this farm and yesterday morning the Italian leprechaun saw a honey badger as he was driving down the farm road on his way to town. It is very unusual to see one of these animals as they are very scarce, I didn't even know that they occurred in this part of the country. We have seen hares, rabbits and even an African wild cat, which looks very similar to domestic cats, but they have very distinctive colouring and markings.

"... even Solomon in all his glory.." A wild flower only a few millimetres across, much smaller than my thumb nail, but perfect in every respect.