The last of the long weekends in this long string of holidays has come and gone. In fact, it was busier than the Easter weekend and the rivers still produced trout from all the popular weirs. The weather was poor, though, with wind and rain for a lot of the time, giving us 21mm over the period.
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| A rainbow over the flood plains of the Spekboom river. |
Here's a little gallery of some of the things that were seen on the Estate over this jolly time:
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| Well, not so jolly for all! Anna accumulating some community hours for school by killing young wattles that have invaded the previously cleared areas in the Upper Majubane. |
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Lamprophis guttatis, a Spotted House Snake, spotted (Har Har) by me beside K14. He was limp and flattened out on a clearing enjoying the brief sunshine. This is a new species for my Finsbury Reptile List.
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The weather finally lifted enough for the Nicholson clan to hike the 12km route from K33 to Central via Goudkoppies and Troutkloof Waterfall.
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It seems that even in the grassveld without trees, autmn colours can still be found. These rosettes are the leaves of a little colony of Mole's Spectacles, Craterostigma wilmsii, found on the plateau of Goudkoppies.
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Talk about beautiful autumn colours in the grasslands? How's the mist condensing on the fading leaves of Psammotropha breviscapa, a high altitude, mat-forming plant.
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The specially beautiful, fading leaves of the succulent, Crassula setulosa, growing on a damp rock in amongst another lithophyte which I am still to identify. The plants in all three of the above pictures have very attractive flowers. It seems that their leaves can be just as attractive.
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The hike took us past some newly flowering Cliff Aloes, Aloe arborescens. The plain they are hiking on is the last step before descending into the steep valley leading to the high altitude waterfall high above Troutkloof.
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The cold weather made this Large-scaled Grass Lizard, Chamaesaura macrolepis, easy to handle. Initially, it appears rather like a snake but if you look closely, it has eyelids (which snakes do not); Scales covering it's ears (snakes have no external ears); and minute vestiges of what remain of it's hindlegs visible. The loss of its limbs together with a few other adaptions, like scales sharpened on the trailing edge for grip on grass stems, make it an efficient grassland reptile.
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The small daisy flowers of the Bush Tea, Athrixia phylicoides, the stems of which are exceptionally sought after for the hand brooms so synonymous with rural African scenes. The dried leaves also produce a very healthy green tea whose health benefits are said to rival those of cultivated green teas.
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Well, as you can see, a lot of fun was had again at Finsbury Estate during the April holidays. But winter is on its way and since we've had lots of late rain the dew is thick on the grass in the mornings. Soon, very soon, it's going to be thick, icy frost and these mountains become a true South African winter wonderland. See you then, looking forward...
