04/06/2007
Weather : Sunny / windy
Temp max: 20 *C Temp min : 08 *C
07:30 Went over the weekends photo's I took of birds and animals, got a beautiful shot of the sunset at Cloustens Farm. Got everything ready for the next firebreak at the N3 highway side.
09:00 Went to burn site, the day was perfect for burning breaks, no wind.
09:45 Started burning. We burnt for about 20 min, when the wind picked-up and we decided to stop and try at another location at the back of the mountain at the N3 highway. When we got there the wind had turned and was too strong. Phoned the weather station to get a report on the weather, wind is going to be blow till Thursday. We are going to continue that side on Thursday.
12:00 Saw the Giraffes on the way back at the base of the mountain
12:00 Base of mountain 11 x Giraffes, 6 x Zebra
12:45 Went to top of mountain, saw the Giraffes and Zebra on the way, they moved to the other side of the mountain.
13:45 Top of mountain 11 x Blesbuck (Very windy up there)
14:30 Went to Ryefield, one of the sprayers had broken, fixing it.
14:45 Ryefield 5 x Blesbuck, 1 x Blackheaded,Heron, 22 x Impala rams ( Group of bachelors ),14 x Hadeda Ibis
15:00 Tugela river at Ryefield, 1 x Perigrine Falcon chasing ( hunting )Turtle Dove.
15:20 Monitor Valley 13 x Impala rams ( another group of bachelors ).
16:00 Arrived home, sorting photo's on computer and writing the daysreport.
05/06/2007Weather : Sunny / windy
Temp max: 24 *C Temp min : 10 *C
08:00 Meeting
10:00 Monitor Valle 6 x Zebra ( 3 adults, 3 babies )
10:20 Near Ryefield 32 x Impalas ( 1 male, 25 females, 6 juveniles )
10:30 Ryefield 5 x Blesbuck,19 x Impalas,34 x Hadeda Ibis,Have not seen the Blue Cranes for a while now.
11:10 Pond near house The Zebra we released are settling in there,they look very calm.
12:45 Road near monitor valley 5 x Waterbuck ( 1 male, 4 females ),
13:00 Went with Mike to see where the firebreak has to be finished at theback of Geluk Farm, spent the rest of the day there. Fixed the roadup there for the tractor and vehicles that we are going to need forthe burning of the firebreak. Saw most of Geluk Farm just to know the area at the back there. Really nice there. Saw 1 x Kudu female and lots of Duiker and Warthog tracks.
16:10 Geluk Farm 2 x Warthogs, 1 x Emerald spotted Wood-Dove
16:25 Arrived home.
06/06/2007
Weather : Cloudy / Raining
Temp max: 23 *C Temp min : 14 *C
07:30 Went over yesterdays work.
08:00 Went to Cloustens to check on the progress of the fence.
08:30 Checked the fence, it is coming on well, could not burn firebreakstoday because of the weather, it was raining the whole day.
09:00 Spent some time marking and making holes for the fences cornerposts.
10:00 Ryefield 27 x Impalas ( 1 male, 22 females, 4 juveniles ),1 x Blesbuck
11:00 Took the gameviewer to drag a tree out of the road, that fell downand was blocking the road, went well, got the tree out of the way.11:30 Pond near ft of mountain 7 x Hartebeest ( 6 adults, 1 juvenile )
12:00 Road to top of mountain 1 x Hartebeest male,1 x Giraffe male
12:30 Side of mountain at showlodge 5 x Zebra ( It is some of the newone we released, they look in good condition ). There are 6 xZebra from the released group of 14 that is settling in nicely next to the house at the pond, 3 females and 3 juveniles. We are very happy and glad, they all look in great condition.
13:30 Top of mountain 11 x Blesbuck at the burn sitewhere we made the fire breaks.14:30 Went to Cloustens
14:50 Mountain at Cloustens near road at Tugela river - Vervet Monkeys in the bushes near the river, could not see them, but you could hear their calls and screams
14:55 Mountain at Cloustens 2 x Kudu females ( 1 adult, 1 juvenile )
15:25 Mountain at Cloustens 2 x Kudu males
15:35 Mountain at Cloustens Little Bee-Eater / Merops pusillus
16:00 Mountain at Cloustens 1 x Grey Duiker
16:35 Mountain at Cloustens Saw a Buffalo Thorn tree that hasbeen knibbled at the bottom by a porcupine, took some photo's.
17:15 Arrived home.5 mm of rain today
07/06/2007
Weather : Sunny Temp max: 19 *C Temp min : 05 *C
07:30 Yesterday's report
08:00 Got everything ready for the burning of the firebreaks
08:30 Went back to the N3 side next to the fence
09:00 Started the fire, but the grass was too wet from previous day's rain.It burned really slow
10:45 It was starting to get drier so we burned more intensely
11:25 Burnt about 900m along the fence, saw a White Stork on the burntareas and it was joined by 4 Blackheaded Herons12:00 Stopped after 1.8km
12:10 Went back home to fill watercarts and firefighters
12:50 Moved to a new location and saw 3 x Jackal Buzzards on the way
13:30 Got to the cornerpost at back next to N3 and started the fire for thefirebreak again
15:10 We stopped burning as the wind was starting to pick up and it gottoo risky to keep burning
15:45 Got back home and saw 6 x Cape Vultures and 1 xBlackshouldered Kite along the way
08/06/2007
Weather : Sunny
Temp max: 10 *C Temp min : 04 *C
07:30 Yesterday's Report and put the capture clips on cd
08:30 Prepared the new vehicle for the farm. We took the canopy off. Didsome road clearing for new vehicle, trimmed branches
10:00 Pond near house Hammerkop10:25 Road to Ryefield 3 x Adult Egyptian Mongoose running
10:30 Ryefield 5 x Blesbok and a big group of Impalas
10:35 Ryefields Hadeda Ibis and a BrownhoodedKingfisher
10:45 On way from Ryefield 4 x Warthogs just next to road
10:50 Went up the road toward Saw nothing on way upmountain, near gate
11:10 On way back down 6 Zebras which includes 1 x foal and a l lone Hartebeest
12:20 On road up the Mountain We saw some of the Giraffes when wewent up the mountain but could not count them
12:35 Near base of mountain 1 x Kudu Bull, 1 x cow and 3 calves
13:10 On top of mountain Yellowbreasted Pipit (Anthus chloris)
14:00 Went down the back of mountain
15:00 Back of mountain 2 x Blackheaded Herons feeding on thefirebreak
15:15 Further along 1 x Kudu bull, 3 cows and 1 x calf
15:35 On way to farm back from Longcrested Eagle in a treemountain
16:00 Back homeFact of the week : Blesbok rams mark their home ranges with dung middens. The territorial ram anoints his face in them so that the scent marks him as the dominant male in the area
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