My Ultimate Capture

I have had this video in my collection since September but being at Ulovane I never got around to actually using it on a post which is strange as it shows the animal which I most want to see in the wild. When I was checking through the videos with my family after collecting it in Blue Hills I nearly dropped my drink. I was extremely excited and had to put my drink down before watching it again. 

It is a shot of that elusive creature, the honey badger. And not just one but two!

After watching it is obvious that the second one is a youngster and it is following its mother. You can see the youngster check the camera out before realising its mother has just carried and runs off in pursuit. Young honey badgers may stay with the parents for over 2 years and since this guy is pretty big he cannot be far off leaving. 

During my whole time out there I never once saw the honey badger. I captured this video, seen damage they had done to a bee hive a few days before and on a morning walk during tracker duties at Shamwari there where fresh honey badger prints on the road out of camp. I have come so close so many times but I will not give up my search. I will return to find the honey badger.

Def(initely) Leopard

So in my last post was a film about setting up a camera trap and included some footage of a leopard. The leopard stayed around for three films. I think it is a male from the shape of the head and the muscular form. It is most likely one of the resident males, Big Boy. The other male, Butch, has a radio collar on his neck so it is definitely not him.  The video I like most is when he sniffs the camera trying to work out what it is.

The other he walks past still checking out the camera.

In the third he is a bit more difficult to spot as he lies in the grass after scent marking. You can see his eye shine towards the end.

It is great to know that the leopards are still holding on in the mountains of the western cape even if it is just a small number. Figures suggest there could be fewer than 20 left in the Baviaanskloof Mega reserve which borders Blue Hill Escape where this footage was captured. Lets hope they hang on and increase in numbers.

How to Set up a Camera Trap.

Over the last few days I have put together a short film on how I set up my camera trap. The video includes a few hints on sighting the camera as well as the settings which I most often use. All the footage was captured at Blue Hill Escape. There is some new footage from the camera trap in the film, a few very special species. A quick hint as to what it is, it is a predator. Watch the video to see what it could be. I enjoyed making the introduction which I am quite proud of. I hope you enjoy the short film.

More footage of the secret species in my next post (although if you watched the video it wont be secret anymore).

Holey Moley

Last week after the floods Chris came around carrying a bucket. He had been to check on the mud by the cottage and on the way back had found something on the driveway. The rain had washed a mole rat out of its underground system. He was a very ferocious guy challenging us with his sharp teeth. Since they live in family groups we released him back into the garden where he promptly burrowed away under a flower pot hopefully to meet up with his family again.

Stuck in the Mud

With all the rain in the last few weeks the roads around Blue Hill are becoming muddy. One by the house leading to the cottage has become a mud pool. The water runs off the hills and has built up behind the cottage. When Chris tried to drive that way he churned it all up. The landcruiser got sucked into the mud. It went in rather deep as you can see from the images which follow.

Eventually the landrover towed it out of the mud pool but it goes to show how much rain fell if a dry patch can become a mud pool.

Baboons!

Here in the mountains at Blue Hill there are plenty of baboon although they are very wary of humans due to being shot by farmers. They are very unlike the Cape Point baboons.

Using my camera-trap set right in the hills miles from the house and managed to capture some natural baboon behaviour (although I was hoping for a leopard).

Below are two videos from the camera trap followed by a few photos.

The baboons run at the first sight of people.

 Here they are keeping an eye on me.

And this guy didnt make it, maybe prey to a leopard?

Birds of the Blue Hill

Here at the Blue Hill on the border between the Western and Eastern Capes within the Kouga and Bavianskloof area is a paradise for birders. The birds are not wary of people for some reason and allow great viewings, even from the actual house. I have collected a few of my photos so far of bird life to show you all.

I am sure that plenty more such images will follow. So here they are.

Orange breasted sunbird (male)

Cape Grassbird

Cardinal woodpecker

Juvenile Orange Breasted Sunbird

Another Male Orange breasted sunbird

Bokmakerie

Arrived in South Africa

Well here I am in South Africa staying at the Blue Hill Escape. I have had my camera up already and seen plenty of signs of the cape mountain leopard, spoor and scat. 

The baboons are quite a frequent sight but much more nervous than the peninsular ones. Probably due to the fact they have been hunted here and shot as vermin. I am on the bird survey at the moment having set off today with bavianskloof nature area next up. 

Birdlife is everywhere with sunbirds singing meters from where I stand. Redwing starlings, my favourite bird, nests in the roof above my room.

The location is so remote at night it is absolutely deafening with the quietness. This also has the effect that the sky at night is unbelievable which this time-lapse I created shows.

 

Images unfortunately will be in a future post as I have limited internet and they are all in RAW format at around 30mb each.

My camera trap has captured some nice baboon behaviour as well as some species of buck and kudu. These will be up soon.

Finally an image not in RAW for you to show the starts. 

Milky way showing the southern cross and pointers in the top right.  (30 second shutter, 3200 iso.)