JUNE & JULY 2018
Winter has been rather mild for us here at the Estate, with the temperature rarely dropping below the zero mark, with the coldest around -2C only within the last two weeks of July. As usual, the winter season is filled with the burning of firebreaks and the roll out of projects suitable for the low water levels, and of course, continuing the fight against alien plants!
Highlights for me included a sighting of a young mother leopard with a small cub around 4 months old in the middle of June, and a sighting of a Martial Eagle being harassed by a Jackal Buzzard above Rock Solid at the beginning of July.
Below is a gallery of a few things of interest and some of the activities we undertook in the coldest time of the year:
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Smoke rises up the cliff face just below the summit of Spioenkop as we begin to burn the firebreak from there to unit 19. Firebreaks went off without a hitch this year.
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A splendid specimen of Kalanchoe thyrsiflora residing above Olinia Gorge on the Rock Kestrel trail. Although a popular nursery subject, they can't seem to produce more beautiful specimens than those in the wild.
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| This winter has been rather mild for us here on the Estate. So much so that I stumbled upon three different sightings of snake during the middle of June! This one is a Montane Grass Snake or Cross-marked Grass Snake, Psammophis crucifer. Grass Snakes are very swift day active snakes that, using their speed, chase down their favourite prey, which are mostly lizards and skinks |
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| Enjoying a hike with the Cotterrels from Unit 17. The Estate was busy over the mid-term break this year with 16 houses occupied during the week. |
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| Went for a walk to the Majubane Waterfall with the Cotterells and the Howards, from Buldozer Creek, in the last week of June. Sheesh, that plunge pool is even freezing during the Summer! The crazy swimmers were in there for more than a half an hour. |
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| Louise and Kenna Twiggs on the miner's path that runs from the Hillside village, along and above the Spekboom river, to our boundary with Highland Run. We often do adventure hikes together and this time we climbed the rank gorge opposite "The Croft's" up to the Mine Walk and then returned down the Spioenkop road. |
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| Even though I say that the winter has been mild, -2C is still VERY VERY cold for us South Africans. This is a picture of M2 just after 07h00 this past week. The frost looks like snow! |
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| This photo was taken just after 07h30 also during the past week. As I was crossing the Kliprots river from the Kliprots road into South Valley, I noticed how these stalactite-like icicles formed as the water splashed over the rocks and wet the bottom of the River Rice Bush, Cliffortia linearifolia. Brrrrr! |
Not a long way to go before Springtime is here again. Hopefully the same applies to you. See you then...
