AUGUST 2019
The intense cold of July dissipated nicely this month although we still have had a bunch of really cold mornings. We had a few cold fronts that came with clouds and one that even threatened rain. It seems that spring wants to arrive sooner than usual this year as you will see in the next few photos. Below are shots of interesting goodies that I have seen and experienced in the month of August:
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| A pair of Raucous Toads, Amietophrynus rangeri, performing amplexus just beneath the surface of the water in the beautiful pond outside Finsbury House (Unit 23). Both the english and afrikaans name, which is "Lawaaiskurvepadda", are very descriptive! The afrikaans "Lawaai" means to "let loose", particularly with sound. The raucous cacophony started a little earlier than usual this year at the normally peaceful Finsbury House. And so we were drawn to the water's edge to see what all the noise was about and found a frenzy of activity in the grass there. Note how the female has her nictitating membranes or "third eyelids" partially opened while the male has his closed, protecting the eye. |
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| The best way to distinguish between a male and female frog is to look under the chin. The male has a gular sack which can inflate to massive proportions to amplify sounds. The female, like whose chin you can see in the previous picture, has no gular sack so she cannot produce the loud noises of the male. When ready to mate, the males will approach the water and space themselves in and around it's edges. They begin calling and the louder individuals get more mating opportunities because the females are attracted to the louder calls. Once a much bigger female finds a male, they enter the water and begin the mating process that is called "amplexus". During amplexus, the male mounts the female and his sperm runs down a ridge on her back and fertilises the eggs as they are excreted in their thick jelly strings. This is an underwater shot of the egg strings tangled in the grass at the water's edge soon to hatch in to tadpoles. |
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| A real spring-time scene, isn't it? It's big, beautiful Citrus Swallowtail butterfly, Papilio demodocus, sucking the sweet nectar from one of those Gnidias I talked about in my last blog. The butterfly's common name is derived from the fact that it's larval foodplants are all from the citrus family (Rutaceae). Here, on the estate, this includes the impressive Cape Chestnut (Calodendron capense), the stinky Perdepis (Clausena anisata) and the thorny Forest Knobwood (Zanthoxylum dayvi), all forest trees. The larvae or caterpillars hatch on the foodplant and enjoy great camouflage as they stuff their mouths because they resemble bird droppings, at least for their first four instars. The final instar is not as well camouflaged but it does have an organ on it's prothorax called an osmeterium. When threatened, the caterpillar fills this organ with fluid and it unravels resembling a bright red snake's forked tongue and emits a foul odour, keeping predators at bay. |
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| This tiny Olive Lesser Thick-tail scorpion, Uroplectes olivaceus, is only 35mm long. it is very common here on the estate but is rarely seen because of it's size and nocturnal habits. They spend the daylight hours hidden beneath stones and rocks and emerge at night to actively hunt their insect prey. Most prey items are crushed by the pincers before the scorpion begins feeding but larger items are also subdued by the neurotoxic venom injected by the stinger at the tip of the powerful tail. Once subdued, the scorpion bites off pieces of insect and lets this dissolve into a liquid together with digestive juices in a chamber outside the mouth. Only once liquified does it swallow it's meal. Scorpions have a bad name but of the 1750 species known only 25 are dangerous to man. In fact, in South Africa only 2 species are dangerous and they are the Transvaal Thick-tail. Parabuthus transvaalicus, which is less so but common in the Lowveld, and the Granulated Thick-tail which is the most dangerous and inhabits the more arid regions of Southern Africa. This little chap is harmless but its sting packs a punch in the pain department! |
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| The beautiful flower of the Dolomite Sage, Salvia dolomitica, from the Mint family (Lamiaceae). The upper lip of the corolla arches over the pollinator as it settles on the flat lower lip with it's guide marks to the nectar. The Dolomite Sage is very particular where it grows and is endemic to Mpumalanga and Limpopo only between 1200 and 1900 masl and only on dolomite outcrops. This one is situated at the top of the driveway to Solitude (Unit 5) and they are also easy to find around the Bag End gate on the entrance road in Rivendell. |
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| Our local Bushbuck ram around the central area is a rather handsome one. This photo was taken from my living room where I see him regularly and if I move slowly I can get even closer to him. The Bushbuck, Tragelaphus sylvaticus, is common in the wooded valleys of the estate and is certainly the antelope most commonly seen by flyfishers. The female is a lighter brown, much smaller, has no horns and is most often seen together with a youngster. They are the only solitary antelope in South Africa that are not territorial. Instead, both sexes establish home ranges (that are not vigorously defended) of about 5 hectares in size that overlap each others'. These common areas are used for socialising and for males to show their dominance over other males. This is done rather peacefully and they rarely fight over females in oestrus. I did once, though, hear a crashing sound above me on the slopes while I was in the Steenkamps Valley east of Rock Solid (Unit 22). When I investigated, I saw two large Bushbuck rams fighting violently. With their horns locked together, they tumbled a good 30 meters down this steep slope before they righted themselves. They only broke it up when they saw me. Although relatively peaceful towards each other, Bushbuck are well known to be very aggressive towards other species, dominating waterholes during droughts and killing gun dogs belonging to hunters. I have heard that a hunter or two have also been victim to the buck's aggression. |
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| A great underwater shot of a quick moving and alert Damselfly nymph at the bottom of the plunge pool by Fern Tree crossing high above Solitude (Unit 5). I featured a Damselfly adult, the Mountain Malachite, in my May blog for reference. With specialised appendages at the tip of her abdomen, the female Damselfly cuts a slit into tender green stems of vegetation overhanging the water and then deposits a single egg into it, a procedure she repeats many times. Once the egg hatches, the nymph drops into the water where it is an aggressive hunter of Mayfly nymphs and other arthropods. The three paddles at the end of it's abdomen are tracheal gills that aid in breathing in it's watery environment. Folded invisibly under it's chin is it's "mask" or foldable, elongated lower lip that can shoot out and grasp it's prey and then fold back, bringing it's prey to it's mouth. When it is fully grown, it will crawl out of the water up the stem of a plant and attach itself there. The nymphal skin then cracks up the middle and the adult emerges. |
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| A bright red blooming inflorescence of a Woolly Bottlebrush, Greyia radlkoferi, growing in the gorge at the first crossing on the Miner's Cottage road. Among the first of our trees to flower in the springtime, the flash of colour is awesome after a long, dry winter. Two species occur on the estate and they are very similar and difficult to differentiate from afar. Up close, though, the Woolly Bottlebrush's flowers are less dense on the inflorescence and the petiole is more fleshy and it clasps the stem while the Transvaal Bottlebrush, G. sutherlandii, has a more compact infloresence and the woody petiole's don't clasp the stem. Whatever the difference, the Sunbirds are happy. If you sit by a blooming Bottlbrush tree for two minutes you will get to see at least one Sunbird visiting the flowers for the sweet nectar. Also, from afar, the Bottlebrush is often mistaken for a Coral Tree, Erythrina lysistemon, but the latter do not occur on the estate. I did see one flowering near the road, down the slope about halfway up Klipspringer hill in Rivendell. |
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| A Jumping Spider from the Salticidae family, the largest of all spider families with more than 6000 species worldwide, perches atop a stone to search out potential prey. An amazing creature with four pairs of eyes that give it 360 degree vision and hydraulically charged legs that enable it to jump relatively massive distances. The two large front eyes are like telescopic lenses and they can see in four colours, our three plus the ultraviolet. Because their eyes are less than a millimeter apart, they cannot judge distance like we can so they judge distance accurately by focus-shifting instead, remarkable! With these abilities the Jumping Spider does not need silk to help capture prey. But every time before it jumps, the spider attaches a safety line to the substrate so that it can recover if it fails. They also use silk to construct little pup tents that they rest in during bad weather and in the night time. |
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| I busted this little guy stuffing his face with the petals of a beautiful Mountain Iris, Moraea moggii, although he maintains his innocence. I think not. His proximity to the scene of the crime (top left of photo), guilty look and the give-away petal pulp around his mouth confirm my suspicions... |
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| This is an Acraead butterfly that I still have to try to identify. Unfortunately I did not get a look at the top side of the wings. But here it sucks the nectar from a Gazania krebsiana blooming on the road to the Miner's Cottage. Spring time is upon us! |
I will be enjoying the climate and many other opportunities offered to me in Kosi Bay for the first fortnight of September. When I return Spring will here in full! See you then.
