November draws to a close and it’s been hot, and I mean hot! And did I mention it’s been hot? Walking out, therefore, on an overcast and very windy day this morning was exhilarating. This change of temperature will be brief, I know, but oh so very welcome.

In the cool of the early morning, white and pale grey clouds were shunting across the sky at some speed whilst flocks of birds were buffeted by the wind. After the short (very short) shower we had yesterday, I believe there were insects in the air. I watched as a twittering flock of Wire-tailed Swallows wheel and dived towards them, but not in their customary precise manner. An eagle took off from a tree and flew straight towards the swallows, but a moment later he landed. I suspect it had taken some energy for him to keep his line, for even the larger birds are being blown about. Over the waving grassland, a solitary falcon drifted from side to side as he tried to hover, his eye fixed on something below. A crowd of Bronze Mannikins took off suddenly from one small shrub and,  moving like a wave, landed in another.  

Back in my garden, the Masked Weavers that came about a month ago went very quiet for a couple of weeks during the intense heat, but they are back with their usual enthusiastic energy and noise. I do sometimes wonder where they go in between the fledging of their chicks and the next nest building season. And whilst on the subject of chicks, in my previous blog I spoke of a nest of Ashy Flycatcher chicks in our garage, which we had been keeping an eye on. Happily all three fledged successfully! As an added bonus, my farmer managed to get a photo of them on the very day they flew.  From eggs to juveniles, I have loved watching this little family develop, although I am still surprised by the nesting site their mother chose.

In the images below:- Ashy Flycatcher Eggs and Juveniles ready to fly, Southern Province, Choma.

Bird life abounds everywhere here and a flock of starlings has just arrived in the large Ficus behind the house. Their colours are indecipherable in the grey of this day, but their shape is distinctive. And they have been before.  For a while, they forage around in the branches finding breakfast and then at some unseen sign, they take off again and head off into the surrounding bushveld. The monkeys arrive soon after for their own feast of figs for they are also regular visitors. One monkey in particular, catches my eye. He is enjoying his meal too much to be concerned about me standing beneath the tree. Meanwhile, the babyish cry of the Trumpeter Hornbill floats towards me from the large trees on the anthill. This being a favourite visiting place for the hornbills, they can often by seen hopping around the branches of a large Mnonodo tree. I expect they too will be heading for the wild figs soon.

The Ficus, this garden and even our buildings, seems to be a quite the draw cards for wild creatures.

On the verandah right now, are the Epauletted Fruit Bats. They were roosting at night in the large conifer behind the house but for some reason moved – into the eaves of the verandah’s thatched roof. There are other bats here too -attached to the wall upside-down. These are the Mauritian Tomb bats who live here all the year round. They huddle and seem to hunker into themselves but the Fruit Bats dangle and look down on us out of beautiful, big, brown eyes.

This cover of an old Frank Sinatra classic, Summer Wind, is performed by Westlife, a hugely popular and iconic pop group from Ireland that formed in the late 1990s, disbanded and then reunited.