Past Club Events
Past Club Outings
Outing January 2026 – Strandfontein
Our first outing of the year on the 17 January saw a great turnout, fabulous weather and two beautiful destinations, what a brilliant start to the year!
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Year End Function
Our Year End function was held at Kilberry Terrace, Helderberg Village, Friday 28 November 2025at 17:00.
Many thanks to Vic Smith for securing the venue and everyone who came along and made this a very enjoyable social evening, including the braai-ers!
Happy Festive Season to all our members.
Outing September 2025 – Kirstenbosch
OurSeptember outing took us to the world-renowned Kirtsenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town.. Tap the heading to read more.
Outing August 2025 – Hartenberg
Our August outing took us to Hartenberg Estate near Stellenbosch. Tap the heading to read more.
Outing July 2025 – Lourensford
Another glorious break in the weather for our July 19 outing to Lourensford. Unlike last year, when the venue gave us a tractor trip, individual cars were allowed in. 44 Bird species were seen!
Thank you again Riël for photos as well as organising and leading the outing, and Johan, Paul and Cornelia for posting their photos.
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Outing June 2025 – Van der Stel Pass
We were blessed with a break in the wet weather for our outing to Van der Stel Pass on June 21st.
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Outing May 2025 – Vergelegen
The day started out a bit chilly and the people coming from Strand was doubtful that we would see anything as the fog was hanging low there, but nature surely blessed us with a brilliant autumn day for our outing to Vergelegen. Tap the heading to read more.
Outing April 2025 – Sir Lowry’s Pass
What a beautiful Easter Saturday morning it was for a hike in fynbos-covered Hottentot Hollands reserve. Starting from Steenbras Dam parking, 32 of us took the hike which I heard from others was either 5k, 7k or 13 storeys high. As my watch simply tells the time, I can say it took about four and a half hours but there was a lot of meandering and gazing through binoculars involved. Tap the heading to read more.
Outing March 2025 – Strandfontein and Zandvlei
On March 15 2025 we visited Strandfontein and Zandvlei.
On the water pans we enjoyed lovely views of flamingos, pelicans, geese, ducks, terns and gulls although waders were a bit scarce. Tap the heading to read more.
Outing February 2025 – Delheim Estate
On February 15 2025 we visited Delheim Estate in Stellenbosch.
We had the opportunity to visit areas not normally accessible to the public, but even around the restaurant and wine cellar there is always plenty to be seen.
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Past Club Meetings
Monthly Meeting January 2026 – Quiz Evening
Join the fun at our Annual Quiz Evening!
Thursday 8 January, 6:30 for 7pm
Somerset West Library Hall
Visitors welcome
Refreshments available, car guard on duty.
Monthly Meeting December 2025 – Photography Evening
Our December meeting was the ever popular Photography Evening when we enjoy photos taken throughout the year by our members.
It was great to see photos from some of our newer members this year. Thank you to Keith, Johan, Ockert, Rachel and Riel for your lovely photos and the stories and sentiments behind them.
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Monthly Meeting November 2025 – Feathers, Forests and the Fight for Ecuador’s Future – Katherine Wiid
It’s always a pleasure when one of our members presents at our meetings, so we were very pleased to welcome Katherine Wiid and her friend Jackie Stone to our November meeting to transport us for a short time to Ecuador, ‘Land of the Equator’.
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Monthly Meeting October 2025 – Monsieur Levaillaint
At our October meeting we welcomed Professor Ian Glenn to talk to us about Francois Levaillant, a name you will recognise from many Southern African bird names.
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Monthly Meeting September 2025 – Shared migrants: Eastern Atlantic Flyway
Peter Penning joined us over video link for this interesting and enlightening talk.
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Monthly Meeting August 2025 – Bird ringing
At our August meeying we were treated to a fascinating talk Dieter Oschadleus about bird ringing.
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Monthly Meeting July 2025 – Birds of New Zealand North Island
In July we once again welcomed John Magner to tell us about his epic trip to New Zealand, this time focussed on the North Island.
Write up to follow.
Monthly Meeting June 2025 – Birds and crop agrochemicals
Continuing our theme of education this year, at our June meeting Dr Lorinda Hart, who is the Birds & Agrochemicals PM at BirdLife South Africa (BLSA), gave us in depth insights into this important project which is looking at the effect of pesticides, fungicides and insecticides on bird populations. Her work informs the long term mitigation strategy, putting BLSA at the forefront of such research. BLSA has recognised agriculture as a major risk to birds globally.
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Monthly Meeting May 2025 – Eco Schools
At our May meeting we learnt more about the South African Eco-schools project, specifically at Beamont primary, which is in its 17th year of running the programme. The work and care that goes into it was awe-inspiring. Tap the heading to read more.
Monthly Meeting April 2025 – A birding trip to Australia
At our April meeting we had a colourful talk about a birding trip to Australia from Pieter van Oudtshoorn. Pieter was sceptical about visiting down under, but he was won over by the variety and abundance of birds and other creatures and the country’s natural beauty.
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