Posted January 6, 2023 in News
Let the round up begin…
Game Counts
It’s been a busy year with Game Counts but with the added benefit of our interns, we have continued to send out three vehicles on the allotted routes.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 2169 | 2039 | 909 | 1574 | 1429 | 1537 | 1440 | 1519 | 1634 | 1744 | 2171 | 2648 |
We have seen an increase of just under 500 animals since December 2021. You may notice that the numbers dip throughout the middle of the year. This is due to the cold and the browsers start to head into the bush during this time.
| Species | Dec 2021 | Dec 2022 |
| Blesbok | 59 | 88 |
| Common Reedbuck | 11 | 13 |
| Duiker | 11 | 12 |
| Eland | 14 | 124 |
| Giraffe | 41 | 38 |
| Impala | 380 | 465 |
| Kudu | 459 | 561 |
| Mountain Reedbuck | 10 | 23 |
| Nyala | 73 | 75 |
| Red Haartbeest | 78 | 73 |
| Warthog | 306 | 344 |
| Waterbuck | 47 | 66 |
| Wildebeest | 292 | 269 |
| Zebra | 337 | 481 |
What has been particularly interesting this year, is when the babies began to arrive. Eland decided to drop earlier in the year whereas the Wildebeest have only just started dropping now. We are hoping that January 2023 will be a good count however, with the large amount of rain we have been experiencing, the bush is looking very succulent and green so it may be difficult to spot the animals! Our continued aim is to increase the bulk grazers which are currently Eland and Zebra.
With the introduction of 13 Bushbuck and 80 Blesbok this year, the figures have enhanced. We have also had amazing news of our Ostriches, who initially had 11 chicks and have only lost 2! They are now the size of Turkeys, making it more difficult for the predators to catch them!
New species recorded during 2022 include:
Birds – Maribou Stork, Lilac Breasted Roller, Green (striated) Backed Heron, Swainsons Spurfowl
Insects – Gaudy Grasshopper, Dragonfly Yellow Veined Widow
Plants – Round Konana, Golden Everlasting
And a KZN River Crab!
Rain
Despite 2021 recording the highest rainfall since 2001, this year has been a record year! We have figures dating back to 1959 and the rainfall figures for 2022 beat all of these!
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
| 776 | 728.50 | 833 | 852.50 | 1212.25 |
Interns
We hosted 67 interns at Sully this year which included groups from Writtle and East Coast Universities. The program has developed over the year with new activities being included, specifically the mini-biodiversity surveys which incorporates monitoring and researching insects, butterflies, tick load, veld conditions, water quality etc.
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