Well, the festive season is over. And festive it was! The rains finally arrived, just in time I might add, to transform the Estate into a lush, green wonderland. Granted, it did rain a lot during the festivities but their were plenty of sunny days in between where folks could get out and explore these beautiful mountains. The swollen, fast flowing rivers provided optimum fishing opportunities and the fishing was exceptional according to everyone I spoke to. I heard Richard Van Heerden caught a beauty toward the upper end of 2kg more recently!
Anyway, I thought I would just post a few photos regarding some of the wildlife that I have stumbled upon in the last week or so:
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| A Rain Spider, Palystes castaneus, on a rock during a gorge walk. |
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| An as yet unidentified Seps. See the minute vestiges of the foreleg. Legless lizards flourish in the grasslands where legs would simply get in the way between the grass blades. |
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| A new one for me, a Clicking Stream Frog, Strongylopus grayii, found along a high altitude mountain stream whilst camping out beneath Mount Anderson. |
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| A Pink Ink Plant, Cycnium racemosaum, in the first rays of the morning sun right on the summit of Mount Anderson. |
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| A Large-scaled Grass Lizard, Chamaesaurus macrolepis, showing off his body strength. This common lizard's rear legs are reduced to mere vestiges while the forelegs are non-existent. |
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| The skull of a Jackal found high up in the grasslands. |
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| A Horsefly resting on the flower of a Pineapple Plant, Eucomis montana |
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| This Berg Adder, Bitis Atropos, of typical coloration, was the longest I have yet seen at over 50cm! |
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| A spectacular Parrot Flower, Gladiolus dalennii, growing right outside the office in the central area |
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| This female Amethyst Sunbird built her nest right outside my doorway up in Solitude Valley. Here she is approaching her nest with a tasty morsel for one of her two chicks. |
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| A Brunsvigia radulosa on the summit of Mount Anderson at sunrise, 05h30. |
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| Protea roupelliea in bloom throughout the Estate. |
Well, all good times must come to an end and everyone is either back at work or school. Enjoy it and have a superb 2017! I look forward to seeing you here in the mountains...
