Atlasville, 17 June 2007

I arrived at Marievale this morning to find that some 60-70% of all the grassland had been burnt to a crisp in a massive veld fire. Even some stands of reeds were just charred stumps at the water’s edge. This is quite early in the winter for this to happen, as it is more usual to expect some burning in August. It will be 4 months before the first rain showers start regenerating what in the areas of most intense burning are just dustbowls.

Despite the conditions there were some birds around. In fact the Capped Wheatear usually do appear after veld fires. Least affected are the waterbirds and waders such as the Red-knobbed Coot and Black-winged Stilt. The latter took to flight as I got too close. Other birds photographed were Long-tailed Widowbird, Pied Starling, African Pipit, Crowned Lapwing and African Wattled Lapwing.