Keeping up to date with Finsbury news

Just a reminder that there are 3 ways that you can use this blog to keep up to date with current news from Finsbury.

1. Receive emails when the blog has been updated.  You sign up for these emails on the 'Blog Home' tab.  On the lower part of the right hand bar enter your email address in the box entitled 'Follow by email'.  Each day there is a new post you will receive an email.
2. Use a 'feed' reader such as feedly.  If you already use RSS feeds then you can get the details of the feed from the 'Subscribe to Finsbury news' links, again on the lower right hand bar of the 'Blog Home' tab.  
3. Visit the blog from time to time.  We will try to post new material as often as possible, so if you don't want to use either of the methods above, please just check the blog for updates every couple of weeks.

If you have any suggestions or requests, please comment below.

Nick

Cool reptiles on Finsbury Estate

I've been a reptile fan for some time and have the gumption to say I've caught and picked up very many of our reptiles, including Anchietes Dwarf Python and Angola File Snake. In the short time I've been at Finsbury I've added some power sightings to my list. These photos include two very different colour forms of a Berg Adder (hopefully updates will be forthcoming) and a very fortuitous sighting of a Beyer's Long-tailed Seps with the Moore family on a 4 peaks hike. The last is a photo of a Large-scaled Grass Lizard encountered on a recent hike with Rob to the Haartebees Vlakte. The latter two are legless (or almost at least) lizards. None of them common sightings, according to the limited research I have conducted. Exciting stuff! Finsbury keeps on delivering!

Natural art worth seeing from SPK12

While the AIPE team were busy on the Spekboom River, I spotted something worth seeing. Rob cleaned up the area and cut back a lot of reeds and exposed this magnificent specimen of a Red-leaved Rock Fig (Ficus ingens) that seems to occur on all north facing cliffs on the estate. I struggled to identify it simply because the specific name, "ingens", means "enormous" and none of them are here. They do get rather big in the Lowveld. Take a walk in the morning (good sun angle) to the SPK12 sign at the weir and look to the cliff wall opposite you. It is a work of art. It is not a Tree Mural, it's a Mural Tree. Imagine having one of these on your lounge wall! Sublime, what?