Ken Borland

The view over the Franschhoek Valley from the pass leading to Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve.

Driving up the Franschhoek Pass to the car park of the Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve, the views over the famous wine-producing valley are already spectacular, but once I had parked, I was more interested in the beautifully chirpy, melodic twittering loudly emanating from somewhere close by.

Dashing off, I found a Cape Grassbird prominently perched on some scrubby Restios and singing away in the early-morning sunshine. For me, it is one of the prettiest calls around and I felt doubly blessed to also have such a good, clear sighting of an impressive bird that can look quite dapper with its black stripes on rusty red and a long tail.

Usually, the Grassbird is skulking around in dense vegetation, but in the fynbos areas of the Western Cape, it apparently becomes quite territorial and brazen in its calling from prominent perches.

Mont Rochelle protects prime mountain fynbos and although there are not great numbers of birds to see, especially when the mists come over the mountain, there is much of interest.

The view into Mont Rochelle Nature Reserve.

A lovely little Karoo Prinia, another streaky bird with a long tail, was also spotted as the undulating trail became more wind-swept, while Yellow Bishop were buzzing around the Proteas in the drainage lines and Cape Canary were also easily spotted.

The pretty town of Franschhoek itself is, understandably when you consider the name means “French Corner”, full of alien vegetation, most notably the vineyards that produce the marvellous wine, but that does not mean the birding is bad.

Some of the beautiful gardens of the town host Swee Waxbill feeding on the grasses in Spring time (late September for this trip), while the impressive Malachite Sunbird can find lots of nectar sources in town.

There are alien vertebrates to go with the introduced vegetation, with Grey Squirrels reaching the northern-most limit of their range in Franschhoek, and enjoying all the big trees of the urban areas, while Mallards frequent the Franschhoek River alongside the bird they most often hybridise with, the Yellowbilled Duck.

Helmeted Guineafowl are the most common bird of the actual vineyards, although we now call them “Wine Turkeys”.

That’s because the charming English couple we met on their honeymoon saw we were birders while we were on the wine tram (a magnificent way to do a tour of the estates) and started telling us about all the “Wine Turkeys” they had seen during the trip!

Sightings list

Egyptian Goose

Hadeda Ibis

Reed Cormorant

Swee Waxbill

Grey Squirrel

Helmeted Guineafowl

Chacma Baboon

Rock Martin

Cape Grassbird

Karoo Prinia

Pied Crow

Yellow Bishop

Cape Canary

Mallard

Cape Bulbul

Blacksmith Plover

Yellowbilled Duck

Blackshouldered Kite

Whitethroated Swallow

Cape White-Eye

Malachite Sunbird

Redwinged Starling

Sacred Ibis

If South Africa’s 2003 World Cup squad were a wine, it would have been considered a very poor vintage indeed, but they did inspire a 17-year-old kid in Umtata to such an extent that he is now on his way to the 2015 World Cup in Great Britain.

The young adult dreams of Lwazi Mvovo are now coming true as the maker of tries looks to cement his place in the Springbok starting XV following an impressive display in the previous Test they played, the belated win over Argentina in Buenos Aires.

“I was watching the 2003 World Cup in Umtata and I decided to start playing rugby then. I was playing soccer at the time, but I ended up switching sports because I knew I could make it in rugby. That was my whole focus, I didn’t allow any stumbling blocks to get in the way of my dream,” Mvovo said after being named in Heyneke Meyer’s World Cup squad in Durban.

While the experienced JP Pietersen will obviously be pushing hard to regain the number 14 jersey, Mvovo has another string to his bow in that he can play fullback and can obviously be expected to handle the kicking game, both in terms of offence and defence, that is likely to see plenty of action at the World Cup.

“Playing as a fullback for the Sharks has opened up a whole new game-plan for me, it’s been a great couple of years. I think I have lots of natural talent, but I still have to work hard. The moment you relax you lose that feeling that you’re in the game. I still do speed training, but also a lot of kicking and catching. I do whatever I need to do to improve – kicking, catching high balls – and I’ll still do that going forward,” Mvovo said.

Although Mvovo grabbed his only chance in the international season with both hands to seal his World Cup place – proving his BMT – he said it was a nervous week in Durban before the squad announcement.

“Nobody can be sure you’re in the squad, but you just have to concentrate on training well and making sure that whenever the opportunity comes, you use it very well. So many players want to be in the Springbok team, it’s an honour and a privilege, so the training camp was just about working hard for me,” Mvovo said.

The 29-year-old with 13 Test caps does not need any prompting to talk about the United Kingdom being a happy hunting ground for him. He made his Springbok debut in Edinburgh in 2010 and he scored his first Test try the following weekend against England at Twickenham, a fine individual effort that sealed a 21-11 victory.

“Yes, Twickenham was where I scored my first international try and there are great memories whenever I go there. I hope to do the same this year if I get the chance.

“This team is experienced in the Northern Hemisphere, the tour at the end of last year really helped us. We’re going with a game-plan and we must just stick to it, the fields and the weather don’t affect that a lot,” Mvovo said.

The transformation issue swirling around Springbok rugby is also not going to distract Mvovo.

“What I can control is my dream of going to the World Cup, so performing at the camp was the most important thing, I didn’t let outside stuff affect me. But my heroes as a kid were Springboks so we must be the heroes of children now,” Mvovo said.