Hadeda alarm-call for the penguins’ clockwork
sir – On our rooftop here at Boulders in Simon’s Town, the hadeda ibises start their raucous call promptly at 4am; the penguins, on the beach below, start bathing at 8am before going out to sea to fish, returning at 4pm to their nests; and the guinea fowl, which appear whenever we are around, hoping for a bite, fly in to roost in the pine tree at 8pm on the dot, shouting as they arrive (“Feeling peckish”, Letters October 4).
They do not have to contend with a time change. We can set our time by them, however irritating.
Juliet Bass
Simon’s Town, South Africa