Tern Around

"The Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, established in 1939, forms a key component of the Table Mountain National Park."

- By Peter Ryan

Situated at the southern tip of the Cape Peninsula, it offers not only a sanctuary from the bustling city but is also ideally situated to ‘trap’ lost birds. This, together with the excellent sea-birding off-Cape Point, ensures that the reserve has an impressive bird list for an area comprising mostly scrubby mountain fynbos.

Despite being based in Scotland for the past two decades, Mike Fraser, author of the delightful 1994 book Table Mountain National Park, has kept a reserve list since he conducted his MSc research there in the mid-1980s. Recently he alerted local birders that a milestone was looming: a Red-capped Lark found by Cliff Dorse at Buffelsbaai on 5 September 2021 was the 299th species for the reserve, and challenged us to see who would find the 300th species.