Liesbeekriver on The Singemonkey

June 06, 2023

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 16:31:38 +0000

It was almost as cold as Cape Town gets this morning. 6 degrees. We arrived amidst riverine mist. But, contrary to the weather report, the sun streamed onto the mountain which was flanked by a dawn moon.

January 31, 2023

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 16:38:13 +0000

Today marked two years of our weekly bird count at the Liesbeek Confluence. Terna has had me up for it at 6:30 this year - excruciating for me except that it’s close to the dawn and the light is beautiful. Also Ana had hot rooibos tea and it was a treat sitting on the grass with them and looking out at this familiar scene.

August 09, 2022

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 08:59:52 +0000

Before and after our 15 min bird count this morning. A year and a half and we’re still recording more species. Jane identified a Karoo Prinia calling on the far bank.

July 26, 2022

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 11:59:11 +0000

This scene again. It was a three kingfisher day today - Pied (which we see most days), Malachite (we see these little jewels maybe every three counts or so), and Giant (seen more rarely - although this lady has a fave spot in the willow so maybe we’ll see her again next week). This in a place that shills for the developers love to pretend is a ruined, lifeless dump.

July 26, 2022

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 11:54:25 +0000

Terna as I found him soaking in the dawn by our river confluence bird count. In summer I really miss the late dawn that invites you to enjoy it without too much bother. This project is partly what inspired my newfound love for daybreak.

July 19, 2022

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 20:56:26 +0000

Just after dawn at our bird count site on the confluence of the Liesbeek and Black Rivers. We’d just seen a Giant Kingfisher in the willow next to that date palm. The developers are flouting their court order to stop claiming they can just ignore it while they appeal. They seem confident that the courts will bow to their robber-baron capitalism destroying aboriginal heritage and sensitive environments. Let’s hope they’re wrong. People are getting pretty sick of these people ramping up their destruction just as we’re understanding how far it’s gone already.

June 08, 2022

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 09:26:09 +0000

The date palm at the confluence stands on a tiny island. About the only thing on that bank spared destruction by the diggers and dozers. A good thing too as the willow beneath the palm seems to be a nesting site for Night Herons. Hopefully the cranes will be hauled away as they begin to rust.

June 08, 2022

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 09:19:49 +0000

Dawn light on the confluence of the Liesbeek and Black Rivers where we do our bird count. Egyptian Geese fly by. The cranes behind the little undamaged island stand silent, hopefully haemorrhaging money into bankruptcy for a company that sought to wreck the place with the collusion of the city that ignored its own environmental impact assessment which declared that it was wholly inappropriate to build on this environmentally sensitive floodplain.

November 09, 2021

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 17:23:49 +0000

A very long time ago they made a little walking route from Rondebosch through to Claremont along the Liesbeek. Even though most of it here is canalised, it’s still a very lovely walk from Observatory to Newlands for lunch on a summer’s day - especially because the locals all along the route have planted up a storm of flowers. Although it’s a domesticated section of the river, there’s still no shortage of life, such as a pair of African Black Ducks with a small swarm of ducklings.

July 28, 2021

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 09:26:23 +0000

Our little dawn bird-counting team. Jane and Terna plus me. A lovely misty morning by the Black River. Commuters rushing to work on the M5 behind us. It’s very much an urban wild space.

July 14, 2021

Wed, 14 Jul 2021 12:48:22 +0000

Another dawn by the Black River, looking to the confluence where the Liesbeek joins it. I’m still waiting for my new lenses because Fedex is a garbage company. Hopefully soon though. If I’d had the wide lens I could have included the full rainbow that went along with this scene.

January 20, 2021

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 10:24:58 +0000

I’ve joined a tiny bird group to monitor the presence of birds where the Liesbeek River meets the Black River. Once a week we go out to this spot on the Black River in the morning and spend 5 minutes noting every species we can see and their numbers. Yesterday was a two kingfisher day with a trio of Pied Kingfishers fussing just on the right edge of the Liesbeek mouth and a Malachite Kingfisher I didn’t see (I was taking notes and, when I thought I saw it later, was asked if I wasn’t looking at a Morning Glory flower - I was 😂). Despite being an urban river system, it’s bursting with wildlife.