Alex’s Blog – August 22
It’s time once again for Alex’s musings and observations following an action packed August here at Watatunga – where it finally rained!!!!.
For much of the season, the two adult stag Hog Deer have been spending a lot of their time together and away from the main herd of females, fawns and juveniles. But as the velvet started to strip away from the stag’s antlers, they started distancing themselves from each other in preparation for establishing the dominance hierarchy between them that will allow one to be the preferred mate to the females when they come in oestrus and are ready for mating. This will happen once this year’s fawns have been weaned.
Now we rarely see the two males close at all. One seems to be preferring the pastures we call Kennels, after the use of this area as housing the hounds used in hunts many moons ago. The other seems to be around the wetland area where our younger pair of White Storks have established themselves. No sign yet of rutting but the time will come towards the end of the summer and early autumn
The times, they are a changing ….
The gaggles of Egyptian Geese seem to be increasing on an almost daily basis during this, their summer flight feather moult. Not being the most sociable of birds this is a pretty confusing time for them as suddenly they have to be close association with others of their species. This leads to all sorts of disputes and arguments as their territorial instincts kick in and they try and chase off those getting too close. Lots of squawking and diving under water to launch an ‘attack’ on others. Makes for great, if noisy viewing. As do the flocks upon flocks of predominantly Black-headed Gulls settling around the Main Lake. Being so drawn to the Lake in such quantity makes for an excellent opportunity to really get bird ID established.
Birds of a feather – stick together ….
Oh for some decent rain. The levels of the lakes are dropping steadily, although the springs feeding them are still seeping into them, sadly the evaporation from the surface is so much greater than the water going in. When the water level drops, so do the oxygen levels in the water and one of the first to ‘suffer’ are the fish and particularly the trout. We have seen carcasses floating on the water and along the edge of the Safari Waters Lake. But this has been an added bonus for local fishing birds such as the Grey Heron and Little Egret who don’t have to exert much energy in picking up a free meal. Nature makes for great opportunists.
Why fish when they come right up to you ….
I have rarely seen our Père David herd move into anything more than a controlled trot. But the other day as we slowly drove along Owl Meadow along the hedgerow from Policeman’s they came across the entrance to Owl Meadow at a pace Usain Bolt would have been proud of, before stopping almost at a skid. I wondered what might be following so edged forward and – nothing. Then watching the herd the females seem to be nipping at the rump of the yearling male. They ran again in a circle and then disappeared over the crest of the hill towards the wetland (or should I say dryland) area along the willow tree line. All that I can imagine is that the females, as they would in the wild, were encouraging the young male to move away from the herd itself.
In the floodplains of the major river systems in China – their natural habitat –this would be the norm to prevent any in-breeding of the male with closely related females. It just goes to show how the basic natural instincts embedded deep within their psyches can come to the fore. None of these deer have ever lived in China and for hundreds of generations their ancestors have lived away from their natural habitat.
But all has settled now with herd relaxed and lying by the main lake again
Normal service will be resumed ….
And it has happened at long long last. Rain, glorious rain.
When I initially moved to South Africa I used to think my South African friends a bit mad when the rains of summer started as they would run into their gardens and dance an Indian American style rain dance. But I soon understood for after 6/7 months of no rain those early summer showers were so delightful. And here we had a good soaking. Followed by 3 early morning really heavy autumnal dews you could almost hear the ground drinking and gulping up the much needed moisture. And with this first decent rain came the first flush of new grass encouraging our grazers into areas of the grassland they had been ignoring and washing the dust from the trees so the browsers also benefitted. Whilst not emulating the style of dance I certainly enjoyed feeling the rain on my face and feeling wet through from the much missed and desperately needed moisture.
I’m singing in the rain, just singing in the rain ….
