Finsbury Estate news: Jimmy's blog, December 2016

The silly season has arrived and, thanks goodness, the Estate is not going to be as dry as a funeral drum. We had in excess of 250mm of glorious rain during the month of November and 20mm odd this month so far. The Kliprots is still low and not flowing over the causways yet; Steenkamp's is flowing a little stronger but still rather low; and the Majubane is flowing quite strongly. The rains we have had have been rather soft (which is good for minimising erosion) but enough has fallen to get all things growing!

South Valley from the sundowner-spot yesterday. Beautiful and green!

In my last blog I mentioned how many insects I came across but in the last few days the growth of all things plant has begun. Flowers everywhere! The termites below were outside on the top of their mound one misty morning, swaying their heads to and fro in the mist, apparently anticipating the rain! Within a few days of the rain, mushrooms were pushing out of all the mounds in the area.

Snouted Harvester Termites awaiting the rain on top of the mound.

Flase Ink Cap mushrooms - Podaxis pistillaris

The termites emerge after dark and collect grass and plant debris, carry it back to the mound and place them in a humid chamber where the conditions are just right for a fungus to grow. The termites then eat the fungus (Real farmers!) and when the fungus is ready to produce it's fruiting body (the mushroom) the termites leave it alone so that the fungus can reproduce. The fruiting bodies break through the crust of the mound and are able to release their spores.

Polystachya transvaalensis - A new Orchid for me

My team and I are currently clearing Pine in South Valley and, just the other day, I chanced upon a new Orchid species for my list in a steep side gorge close to Mount Anderson! Graeme Naylor you are a star, thanks again for the superb Orchid book! Another thing I've got to thank you for is pointing out where you saw the Bobbejaan Stert plants flowering, on a cliff right above K34, on your last visit. These are one of the only few species that share this habitat and that of the Kruger Park and so was well known to me when I arrived here. They were also amongst my favourites as the flowers are so showy. They are not rare in the Estate at all but in the almost four years I have been here I have kept an eye on them and I have not once seen them flower! Spectacular!

Bobbejaan Stert (Baboon's tail) - Xerophyta retinervis - in full flower

The animals are also rather jolly that some rain has come. Late last week I bumped a breeding herd of Blesbok consisting of one big ram with nine ewes. Seven of the ewes had brand new little calves with them. Little white things still unsure of their footing, or so I thought until they got wind of me because, gee, they can run! I also got a glimpse recently of a teenie little Eland calf with her Mom and I flushed a small Mountain Reedbuck lamb hiding from me in the grass.

Talking of baby animals, we got a few pics of one of the cubs belonging to the leopard princess that I mentioned a few blogs ago. The cub was caught by the Cam-trap situated at M13. An Eland bull, on the previous evening, uprooted the wooden bridge and tilted it onto its side. This provided some entertainment for the happily stuffed little male cub (the pics are a little blurry because of morning dew on the lens).....

Well, you can come see all this for yourselves soon. I see that the Estate will be well visited over this festive season and we look so forward to seeing y'all. I will be offering walks and hikes every day from the 17th right through till the 10th of January.

Below is a little gallery of other things I have seen in the last week: