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Thursday, February 23, 2017

Serendipity? Coincidence?

Whatever ...

Saturday a week ago, our neighbor DJ stopped on his road running along outside our fence. The day before he'd sent his tractor onto the servitude from John's motor gate to the boundary. The driver also mowed behind the plain trees lining the servitude and along the fence running down to the bottom boundary. 

Grant had phoned to thank him and say that if he stops at our fence, I had a fresh punnet of health rusks as a thank you for him. 

The men got talking and then DJ looked over Grant's shoulder at our pick-up truck on the lawn. He pointed out that we'd lost a number plate (licence registration plate) 

We were just wondering where we'd find the missing plate, when DJ said the day before he'd seen us go up the drive (between a plantation of trees) to an eatery called "The Valley Bakery" He said he knows our registration number and remembers seeing the plate on our vehicle at the time. 

On Sunday morning Grant and I drove slowly along our dirt road with eyes peeled for a falled number plate! Nothing.

We went further and drove up "The Valley Bakery" road. This business is closed on Sundays and I was just about to say to Grant that perhaps a patron or staff member picked up the plate and handed it in and that we'd have to inquire the next day, when I spotted the back of an oblong shape sticking out from the bakery notice board. Grant hadn't seen it and I was very excited that I had!

Grant turned the car around and I pointed:
The Valley Bakery sign - with our number plate
Grant removing our number plate

Grant came home and fixed the number plate to the car with pop rivets (I think!); he says it shouldn't fall off again. 

Thank you to the kind person who picked it up and attached it to the sign board!

Happy Thursday to you all! 

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Jackal-Buzzard

Driving into the valley on Sunday morning, we spotted a large raptor on the electricity pole. As we stopped the car next to it for me to take photos, it flew away. It landed on a fence pole in a field on the opposite side of the road. 

While we watched, it flew down into the grass, pecked at something and flew back onto the fence post. 

Dinner is served...
Jackal-buzzard tearing away at its freshly-caught meal

Zooming in I could see that it was devouring a [poor hapless] frog

The Jackal - buzzard is very distinctive with a typical thickset buzzard stance. It has blackish upperparts, rufous breast and mottled dark grey underparts. Here's an interesting fact: the female is considerably larger than the male. It's a fairly common endemic and mostly sedentary. Its habitat are hilly and mountainous regions (exactly where it occurred) Its food is mainly mammals up the size of a hare, birds, reptiles and frogs. This bird's call is like a jackal yelping: keoow, keoow, keoow. 

I'm linking to Wild Bird Wednesday here

HAPPY WEDNESDAY TO YOU ALL! 




No WiFi

Sign on the wall at the eatery where we have breakfast after the Parkrun every Saturday . The business down the road has a sign at its entrance: We have WiFi - you don't have to talk to each other! 

I'm linking to Wordless Wednesday here