Finsbury Autumn wildlife

GRASSLAND WILDLIFE IN AUTUMN

I'm sure for many of you that this may be the longest April ever experienced! Even being locked up together with those you love can be taxing after almost a month, so I thought I would showcase some of the wildlife that I have encountered in the last while here at Finsbury Estate in the mountains of Mpumalanga, to take your mind off ...… well, the mundane …… and murder?

These are the winged reproductives being released by workers of a colony of Pugnacious ants, Anaplolepis custodiens. The males emerge first and use their good vision to locate a landmark in the area, like a big tree. Other colonies in the area are synchronised and also release their winged alates at the same time, whose males often congregate at the same landmark where they all start releasing pheromones to attract winged females (opposite to termites, see March 2019 blog). In some ant species, the male plugs the female to avoid her mating with others but in most species, the female mates with up to 10 males whose sperm she stores and uses later to fertilise eggs. Once mated, the females dig into the ground and lay eggs to produce worker ants that will help her establish a new colony. Queens can live up to 30 years and workers between 1 and 3 years. In an established colony eggs are laid by the queen and immediately carried by workers to one of many nursery chambers where they are guarded.  The development of the eggs and larvae is temperature dependent so these care-givers constantly move them around the nest to where the temperature is suitable. Fertilised eggs hatch into diploid (double chromosomes) female workers and unfertilised eggs hatch into haploid (single chromosome) male drones. Once hatched, the larvae are fed by care-givers via trophollaxis, which is regurgitated food. In their final instars, the larvae are fed solids like seeds, pieces of insect and trophic eggs which are eggs laid as a food source, not intended to hatch into offspring.The larvae then enter the pupal stage and finally hatch into either workers or male drones. Male drones fly to other colonies and allow the workers to attack them. When they do, the male releases a pheromone that calms the attackers and then they pick up the male and carry him to their queen so they can mate. On hatching, workers spend the first few days tending to the queen and offspring. Then they spend the next while concentrating on nest work like cleaning and digging. Finally, when they are older and more expendable, they will join the ranks of workers that forage for food and defend the colony. Most ants that live in large colonies, like these Pugnacious ants, have workers forming different castes from small workers to medium workers to large workers that are often referred to as soldiers because of their size, although they still perform the work of the other workers. Above is actually just a brief summary of a very complex social system in ants called eusocialism. Eusocialism is where all individuals within a colony work together by giving more than taking, to form a collective body that behaves like a more complex individual of higher animals. Eusociality occurs in most hymenopterans and also in the much more primitive termites. In fact, if us humans could behave completely eusocially, this planet could support double our population with little damage to the environment. But our species, like all other animals except eusocial ones, take as much as they can and give as little in return as possible.    

Up close and personal with a Yellow-spot Fruit Chafer, Anisorrhina flavomaculata, as it makes its way across the vast plains that is my lawn. I had this urge to remind him that he can actually fly. There certainly wasn't any food around since they eat pollen, nectar, petals and other flower parts and, as their name suggests, fruit. Then it occurred to me that it was probably a female looking to lay her eggs under the ground. The larvae, once hatched, are fat white grubs, called "Chicken worms" in my youth, that eat detritus under the ground surface, or in this case, under the layer of grass..

I know I feature bagworms in my blogs quite regularly. I can't help it, it's such a clever system. This caterpillar has grown so much that it had to extend its case, which one can see by the fresher grass stalks closer to its head. It is feeding on the florets on the disc of a Porcupine Daisy, Berkheya echinacea, a striking daisy whose stems and leaves are covered in spiny thistles, hence its specific name (Echinos meaning Sea Urchin, the venomous creature with sharp spines. Echidnas are Spiny Ant-eaters, and as mentioned in my blog featuring mammals earlier this month, are also on of the few extant Monotremes). The worm has even got a cosy fur collar. Check out my blogs of March 2018 and February 2020 for more on Bagworms.

Ah! A new butterfly for my list and this one was gracious enough to pose with it's wings both open and folded. They were rather common last month till the middle of this month and now not noticeable again. The larvae feed on plants from the Euphorbia family which are quite hard to find with most species not occurring here. I have not yet located the one or two species from the Tragia genus and one Dalechampia vine, that the larvae of these butterflies eat, on the estate yet but they are surely here.

A male Mountain Malachite, Chlorolestes fasciatus, perched beside M28. The males are easy to distinguish because most of them, up to 70%, have banding on the wings. On unbanded individuals, one would have to check the end of the abdomen to verify the sex. If it has claspers, those appendages that hold the female during mating, then it is a male. I remember over a decade ago reading about the way they discovered that lionesses actually were more attracted to male lions with black manes as opposed to males with blonde mains. Well, I never thought that would be the case with insects. Female Mountain Malachites are more attracted to males with banding on their wings than males with plain transparent wings! And even though males with banding have a higher predation rate because they are more visible to their predators, they are responsible for most of the breeding. They are also doubly aggressive toward unbanded males which was something that I got to experience when I took this photo. There were plenty of them around and I guessed that they were all males because the unbanded ones were constantly chased off by more than a few banded ones. All in the small area beside M28 between Jackpot Cottage and Rainbow Rivers.

This poor fellow is an unbanded Mountain Malachite, the one that is bullied by the sexier banded boys. The reason the banded males have not taken over completely is because these less sexy boys can evade predators, with their invisible wings, much easier and, thus, still get chances to mate. This individual is also younger than the one in the previous photo. This can be deduced by the fact that the banded one is going a coppery colour, which they do as they age. "Older" is relative, of course, because the life span of an adult is around a month only.

Another special snake for our list here on the estate, a Southern Brown Egg-eater, Dasypeltis inornata, a rarely seen nocturnal snake with an uncanny ability to find freshly laid birds eggs up to the size of XL chicken eggs. The easiest identifying characteristics of the snake are the keeled scales, giving it a rough, matt appearance, and large round eyes with vertical, cat-like, pupils. Also, its aggressive response to being disturbed is quite frightening with its mouth wide open and flaying as it lunges toward the threat. It is all just a show, though, because the snake has no teeth to harm you with. Instead, it has rubbery ridges, very much like fingerprints, that make it easier for the snake to grip a smooth egg in its mouth which it then maneuvers into its neck area and cracks the shell with bony projections, attached to its vertebrae, that extend into its oesophagus. It swallows the liquid contents of the egg and regurgitates the shell in a neat, compact package. This liquid diet allows the snake to ingest much more food than that of  snakes that eat solid food, which makes these snakes a nightmare for parent birds, and bird breeders, because a whole clutch of eggs can be lost at once.  

On my way to town, all kitted out to avoid aerosol contact with others of my species, and just before reaching the railway line on Finbury's access road, I thought I saw what I thought was a cable join, on the powerlines alongside the road, moving. Is hallucination a symptom? I thought as I stopped my Landrover and reversed. No. It was a Flap-necked Chameleon, Chamaeleo dilepis, completely lost and clearly in distress. It kept trying to reach down but, of course, there was nothing to grasp. Looking further up the road I could see that there was a tree whose crown was just touching the powerlines and so I gathered that must be where it came from. It had already passed a few poles to get to where it was but it still on its way to nowhere. It's sad to see the way animals are affected by human creations like artificial lights at night for moths to reflections in mirrors for male birds to name a few. Anyway, Even though the estate is a mere 10 to 15 kilometers away, from where I was, as the crow flies, these chameleons do not occur here. The only species to occur in the highlands that is the estate, is the Transvaal Dwarf Chameleon, Bradypodion transvaalensis (see blog of February 2019). In fact, there are many bird and other animal species that occur as close to us as Nooitgedacht, that do not occur on the estate, and vice versa, with the line between the Lydenberg bushveld and montane grassland biomes being so thin.

These strange little plants are the sporophytes growing from the female part of the moss below. Mosses are common, mostly in our dark, moist forests here on the estate and can be seen growing as mats on bare ground, rocks and tree trunks. They are tiny, non-vascular plants with leaves that are usually only a cell width thick. The stem's role is purely structural with little or no passing of nutrients and water like in vascular plants. Mosses also have no roots and instead have thread-like rhizoids that function as anchors only, not absorbing nutrients and water like vascular plants' roots do either. And like fungi and clubmosses, they have no flowers and produce spores instead of seeds. These spores, when the conditions are suitable, germinated into masses of hair-like filaments, called Protonemata, that appear like a green, felt-like film on the substrate. Gamete-bearing stems and leaves grow from these protonemata which produce the male and female reproductive organs on the same plant or different ones, depending on the species. When the plants are suitably waterlogged, the male sperm swim through the water to the female receptors where the egg is fertilized and the sporophyte (above) is produced. For humans, the greatest benefits of mosses is their insulation and absorption properties and they were used, in the past and present in the coldest climes, for a variety of applications: Stuffed as insulation between gaps in the log walls of homes in Russia and Scandinavia; As insulation in boots and mittens in Canada and Alaska; For insulation in bedding by North American Indian tribes; As diapers, wound dressings and menstrual pads also by North American Indians; and even as wound dressings in the first world war.  

This is also a moss, called Haircap moss, Polytrichum sp., but it is quite different from most mosses in that its leaves' cells are more than one cell thick with erect, tightly-packed lamellae on the surface that trap moist air between them. This protects the moss in dry conditions which allows it to grow in more exposed situations, like on the bank beside the KLF road between us and Haartebeesvlakte where this photo was taken. Also, unlike typical mosses, Haircap mosses have a column of wide cells in their stems that conduct water and this column is surrounded by smaller cells that pass nutrients around. These colums are like very primitive versions of the xylem and phloem that we find in vascular plants. The mosses live for between 3 and 5 years, and when they die, they stay intact and form the base of the following generations. a bit like coral. 

I found these Hesperantha baurii flowers blooming on another bank beside a road. This time, the old road that leads from the Miner's cottage road to the goalposts up on Goudkoppies (note the Clubmoss growing beneath them). These beauties, very close relatives of the Scarlet River Lily, Hesperantha coccinea, that we love so much, bloom in autumn and early winter on vertical cliffs and banks, as well as rocky situations all at high altitudes throughout the estate.

I stayed over at the Miner's Cottage recently and I found this Bee Fly from the Bombyliidae (see blog of June 2019) resting on a Nidorella bloom in the early morning sun, waiting for it's rays to evaporate the dew drops on its body. Sometimes the situation is just right for a super shot and this was one of those. The fact that it was so still allowed me to get this shot which is in perfect focus. If you look carefully, you can even see the upside-down reflection of the Miner's Cottage with the grass around it in the large dew-drop on its thorax! I love it when a plan comes together...

And finally, a close up of the face of a Cape Eagle Owl, Bubo capensis, found by David, the foreman, injured and disorientated just outside Cochy-bundhu (unit 1) a week ago. I noticed two wounds on the back of its head and its left wing seemed hurt, not broken, but otherwise it seemed healthy. I left it outside my house for the first evening because I could see it was trying to fly and, after a few attempts it flew quite a distance and I lost it. The following morning, Simon, the hatchery manager, saw it fly unevenly over the hatchery and it landed and remained by the vehicle garage near the office. Don contacted the Dullstroom Bird of Prey and Rehabilitation Center and they said they would come out the following day, even during the lockdown, and collected it. That night we enclosed it in the hatchery and caught a rodent in a mouse trap in the recycling room and tried to feed it to the owl, but it refused the offering. On their arrival, after looking the bird over, the Bird of Prey staff declared it in a critical condition and rushed it back to the rehabilitation center. She said she believed it was attacked by another raptor, maybe on of our many eagle species, but managed to escape. They have kept us up to date and it seems as if the owl is recovering but they say it is still touch and go. We'll hold thumbs...

We will continue to keep your estate in pristine condition while you are confined to your homes, and wait, in anticipation, for your visits as soon as we conquer this bloody virus. Good luck and stay strong!

Orchids of Finsbury Estate - References

FINSBURY ORCHIDS - REFERENCES

•  ORCHIDS OF SOUTH AFRICA : S.Johnson; B Bytebier; H Starker
•  WILD FLOWERS OF NORTHERN SOUTH AFRICA: A Fabian; G Germishuizen
•  WILD FLOWERS OF THE HIGHVELD: B Van Wyk; S Malan
•  AFRICAN INSECT LIFE: SH Skaife; J Ledger
•  RED LIST OF SOUTH AFRICAN PLANTS: SANBI Strelitzia 25
•  Wikipedia
•  wildorchids.co.za
• operationwildflower.org.za
• pza.sanbi.org 

___________________________________________________________________________________

Orchids of Finsbury Estate Part II

FINSBURY ORCHIDS PART II

Over the weekend I showcased half of all the orchid species that I have so far discovered on, or very near to, the estate since I have been here. I will continue here in part two and begin with the Eulophia genus which is characterised by the sepals being larger than the petals and the labellum, which is the attractive, at least to its pollinators, landing-pad-type appendage on the flower, with 3 lobes and a spur or a pouch:

PART II

This, an Oval Crested-lip, Eulophia ovale, is one of three rather similar looking species that I have found here so I will only present this one. The other two species, E. hians and E. zeyheriana, incidentally, are both species that will self pollinate as I mentioned in the introduction in Part 1. This one, though, is pollinated by bees from the Halictidae family, commonly known as Sweat Bees. Those tiny bees that crawl into your eyes and ears while you're sweating on a hot, humid day. All three species are widespread in our grasslands right through summer.

A Twisted-petalled Crested Lip, Eulophia streptopetala, presented in an atypical colour form. This spectacular orchid stands 1,5 meters tall and boasts more than a dozen of these large flowers. On a hot, dry November day a few years ago, I decided to inspect the little gorge that flows into Kwa Puleng, unit 12, from Spioenkop. As I climbed up the dry waterfall I was greeted by this largest and showiest orchid I had ever seen! I struggled to identify it because it has no markings and descriptions of the flower all included heavy blotching. I sent some pictures off to a friend who is an authority on orchids and he said this colour form is only seen when there is no other individuals in the area and so this orchid has been forced to self-pollinate for many generations. This orchid is pollinated by Leaf-cutter Bees from the Megachilidae family. Oh, by the way, I also found a little Vygie flowering near to this orchid on the cliffs and have still not identified it. I have sent it to some people I know and no identification has been forth-coming. Normally I would uproot the little plant and send it in to be identified but I scared that it may be rare. Later this year I will bring somebody in to help me identify it while it is flowering. It will take a bit of climbing, though...

The genus Habenaria is distinguished from others by the presence of two projections on the stigma and, added to a spur, the labellum’s three lobes hang down. This is a Common Bog Orchid, Habenaria dives, and is widespread, although easy to miss because of its mostly green colour, in the higher altitude grasslands, especially around Mount Prospect and above Grilse Cottage, unit 18, from December to February.

Although this Bog Orchid, Habenaria humilior, stands up to 600mm tall, it is still easy to overlook because the plant, including the flowers, are all green. This one is located a mere 2 meters off the Majubane road between Morrin Pools (unit 14) and Tranquility (unit 15) at the highest point just after the junction to the mountain hatchery. Be there in February or March and, with a bit of luck, you will find it.

A Tiny Bog Orchid, Habenaria petitiana, growing on the forest floor. This unnoticeable little orchid with minute flowers grows in the darkest regions of the forests on the estate. Strangely, I have only found them in the steep, narrow gorges of the tributaries to the larger streams. Also, the flowers are really short-lived and only visible in the month of February.

If there is no common name for an orchid, which is the case with most of them, I have sort of created my own common name by using the definition of  the scientific name. Doing this, this Holothrix orthoceras would be called a Straight-horned Whole-hair, and it  is a rather common orchid of the forests of the steeper gorges. It can be found growing as a lithophyte (on rocks), an epiphyte (on branches of trees) or as a terrestrial in deep shade from January right through to June. I find them more often towards the edges of the forests on the steeper slopes.

This orchid would even have a more bizzare name: Besem-shaped Spiculed Whole-hair, Har Har! Fortunately it has a Common name already, it is a Brushy Holothrix, Holothrix scopularia, and it is a small orchid that grows at high altitudes in open grassland in early summer and is easily overlooked. So much so that, although they are supposed to be common, I have only ever seen this one which was located on the eastern slope of Mount Anderson between the KLF road and the summit. The brush-like appearance is caused by the division of the lip in to 5 to 12 hair-like lobes.

These tiny pale orange Bowker's Oily-leafs, Liparis bowkeri, act as a ground cover where they occur in the full shade of the forests. They also flower for the whole of summer and if you search the north eastern forested slopes of the Majubane gorge on our boundary with Whisky Creek, you will find a few colonies. The characteristic leaves covering the forest floor are the easiest way to identify the plant because the flowers are rather non-descript and only stand 10 or so centimeters tall.

This tiny swamp orchid is one of only 3 species that have been placed in the Neobolusia genus, and the only one occurring in South Africa. It is a Neobolusia tysonii and it is very, very easy to miss because of its small stature, mostly green blooms and its habitat preference of moist or marshy grasslands whose grasses dwarf the orchid. I’ve found them around the spring beside the road just south of the Little Joker mine, in the area around the source of the stream  that crosses the Rock Kestrel trail at River Lily crossing which, by the way, is a large sort of eroded depression that is thick with grasses and sedges and a superb place to go orchid hunting in late summer. Like now, but February is best for the orchid in question.. This photo was taken on the south eastern slopes of Mount Anderson which is also an excellent place, because of  its orientation which makes it cooler and moister , to go flower hunting for all types.

One morning in December 2017, while Jessie Green and her Dad, John from Jackpot Cottage (unit 16), were busy raking the newly cut Rock Kestrel trail as part of her community service, I nearly destroyed this Prickly Straightlip, Orthochilus aculeatus. I was throwing large rocks, that I used to mark the trail before I cut it, further from beside the new path and one of them rolled over this orchid. Yikes! I nearly had a heart attack! Fortunately, it appears that the orchid was made of solid stuff because it was no worse off after the incident, as pictured. Although the plant is listed as common, it is the only individual I have found so far. This individual was almost half way between the rocks by the old gate posts and the large burned Protea tree, on the flats just before the decline to K9, on the Rock Kestrel trail..

This Winged Straightlip, Orthochilus foliosa, presents its strange green flowers with a purple throat in the hope of attracting Click Beetles from the Elateridae family (check out the December 2019 blog), who are its sole pollinators. The orchid stands about 300mm tall and, according to the literature, occur in small colonies, although this was a solitary individual. I found it on the flats above Finsbury House (unit 23), between Finsbury House and Grilse Cottage (unit 18).

Otto’s Tree Orchid, Polystachya ottoniana, forms mats, made up pseudobulbs, on top of tree branches and occurs, rarely, in most of the forests on the estate. Pseudobulbs are swollen parts of the stem, filled with stored carbohydrates and water,  that look like bulbs packed tightly together. During the wet season the pseudobulbs fill up but by the time it reaches the end of the dry season, especially during dry spells, they are soft and shrivelled. Epiphytic (air plants) orchids’ roots creep out from these pseudobulbs and over the branches of their host tree and absorb water and nutrients through a spongy layer on the roots called the velamen, which is green when wet and white when dry. The beautiful, delicate flowers which can also be yellow, come out from August to December.

This Transvaal Tree Orchid, Polystachya transvaalensis, is much harder to find than the previous species because it does not have any pseudobulbs covering its hosts’ branches. I found this one in one of the tributary gorges that join up to the Upper Majubane close to our boundary with Whiskey Creek, and it is the only one that I have found so far. This species hybridises naturally with the previous species and, wow, the offspring must look pretty weird.

Previously Corycium dracomontanum, The Black-faced Berg orchid, now Pterygodium dracomontanum, is pretty common in our grasslands for the whole of the summer. Most parts of the flower are green but the sepals turn black after a while and that is the only time they are easy to spot. But if you walk the Rock Kestrel trail and search for them from the path, there's a good chance you will find one, especially in mid summer. these orchids produce oil instead of nectar and so, attract oil-collecting bees as pollinators..

Once again, if you visit the little depression at the source of the stream at River Lily crossing on the Rock Kestrel trail in February and March, you will also likely find a few of these Drakensberg Winged Orchids, Pterygodium hastatum, among all the other species of orchid that grace that little area. This species is also pollinated by oil-collecting bees.

This is without doubt the most robust of the orchids that occur here and its name is suggestive of this - Giant Winged Orchid, Pterygodium magnum. It stands up to a meter-and-a-half tall and occurs in grassland near forest edges. I found this specimen at the source of the first forested gorge that enters the Upper Steenkamps gorge east of Rock Solid (unit 22). There is another individual that blooms just east of River Lily crossing on the Rock Kestrel trail, rather close to the special little area described for the previous species and, at the same time of the year too, between January and March.

The Satyrium genus is characterised by non-resupinate flowers, which means the flowers do not turn upside-down while they develop, and they have 2 spurs per lip. The genus also contains the most well-known natural hybrids amongst its genera. This one, like a piece of fine artwork, is the Crested Satyrium, Satyrium cristatum, and it, subspecies longilabiatum, is the less common of the two subspecies. I have not, however, knowingly seen the cristatum subspecies but one has to look very closely to differentiate between them. This one was photographed on the slopes behind the Miner's Cottage that lead up to Goudkoppies. Flowering between January and March. 

Common in high altitude grasslands throughout the estate in the middle of the summer, these beautiful orchids, the Long-stemmed Satyrium, Satyrium longicauda, are hard to miss because they stand out so, up to 500mm tall and in all shades of light pink to white. Look how long the spurs are. The only insects here with probiscids long enough to reach the nectar in those spurs are Hawk moths from the Sphingidae family (see blog of September 2019), those handsome hovering moths with the looooong probiscid that tries to drink your beer and wine during sundowners.

Late March, a few years ago, while ascending the stairs from the Majubane waterfall to the Whisky Creek lodge south of us, Fraser Moore (again), from Rock Solid (unit 22), and I could not really miss this rather tall Small-flowered Satyrium, Satyrium parviflorum, which stands up almost a meter. But while swooning over it I accidentally broke the stem, which was devastating, and so Fraser had to support it for the photograph, and I have never found another individual since…

Listed as rare in the Red List of South African plants. This little orchid, whose individual flowers are only between 2 and 3mm in diameter, was discovered at the end of January along the stream that carries water from Mount Formosa’s aquifer to the northern waterfall in Steenkamps gorge. It is a Culver’s Splitlip, Schizochilus cecilii culveri, and it is a subspecies of the more common Cecil’s Splilip, Schizochilus cecilii cecilii, which is either white, or occasionally has white sepals and yellow petals, and can be found on the tippy top of Mount Anderson around the same time.

The next time you visit the Steenkamps' waterfalls during the summer, keep a look out for this striking Fringed Narrow-tongue orchid, Stenoglottis fimbriate, growing as a Lithophyte (on rocks), epiphyte (up on trees' branches) and as a terrestrial in the forest. The roots of the orchid are clumps of elongated, fleshy, tuberous growths with robust hairs on them that can attach to almost any substrate and absorb minerals and water from the surroundings. They stand up to 400mm tall and the rosette of spotted, wavy leaves are unmistakable.   

I'm sure you are all orchided out by now but I guarantee that if you give it a try, you may become an orchidophile and then you will have very little time for other things while you are here. I promise, though, that I will keep my eyes and ears open for other interesting stuff here on the estate while you are locked away from this terrible virus, and let you know about them.

Stay safe and we are missing you.

Orchids of Finsbury Estate

FINSBURY ORCHIDS

Of the many wonderful things that got me hooked on this beautiful place, the most powerful was the flowers. So very numerous and showy compared to the Lowveld from which I hailed. Then, when I started identifying and learning about these plentiful flowers, the Orchids reached out to me and swallowed me up whole! It has gotten to the point where Orchid hunting has become a hobby of mine and, in the years that I have been here, I have recorded and photographed 47 species on or very near the estate within the Mount Anderson Water Catchment Reserve. This is certainly not the total amount of species that occur here and every season I discover more.

Apart from the Daisy family of flowering plants, Orchids are the largest family, with about 28000 species worldwide. South Africa is endowed with a whopping 474 species compared to North America with 213 species and the whole of Europe with 182 species. Of those 474 species, 66%, or 314 species are endemics to the region, meaning that they only occur in South Africa and nowhere else. Interestingly, the trend for the last couple of decades shows that about 1 new species, on average, is discovered per year in South Africa. I look forward to the day that I discover a new species here on Finsbury Estate. Those with long memories might recall my little blog of 19 February 2017 when I found a species on the summit of Mount Anderson that was not in my orchid identification book, which is comprehensive, and after sending it off for identification, discovered it was not in my book because it was only described after the book was published in 2015. Close!

What makes orchids so special is there complex design, amongst the most complex of all plants. This complexity attracts very specific insects which minimises the chances of the wrong pollinators collecting pollen and then wasting it on other, different flowers whose characteristics also attract it. Specialised pollinators tend to concentrate more on a particular species of flower instead of the general frequency of colour that is reflected off the flower. Still, even allowing for the complexity, the flower is made up of 3 petals and 3 sepals like any typical lily. The lower petal is usually modified to form a lip, which is a landing platform and guide for the pollinating insect. The lip is also usually further modified to incorporate a spur, a long tapering tube, that projects backwards from the flower and mostly contains nectar. To reach this nectar, the pollinator must have a tongue that is the correct length, otherwise it will not reach it. In some instances, I have observed Chafer beetles that have chewed through the wall of the spur to reach the nectar so even this system is not infallible! Many species of orchid mimic other plants and because of this, still develop a spur, but do not manufacture the expensive nectar because the pollinator would have already been duped, and collected the pollentia, before it realized there was no reward.

Another feature unique to orchids, and Milkweeds too (see blog of "Enter the New Year", January 2019) is that the male and female reproductive structures are fused together into a column. The pollen produced from this structure also does not resemble a powder but comes in a waxy package, called a pollinia, that is sticky on one end. This sticky patch attaches the pollinia to a very particular part of the insects body so that, if the insect visits another species of orchid, the pollinia will not come into contact with the appropriate receptors in the incorrect species, thus minimising the chances of hybridisation. 

Orchid seeds are also unique in that they are minute, like dust, and contain no storage tissue to assist in germination. Instead, orchids must rely on a symbiotic association with fungi in order to successfully germinate. Also, some orchids are designed to dry up in such a way that, if they are not pollinated during the flower's life-span, the pollinia will drop into its own receptors and self-pollinate.

Graeme Naylor from Cochy-byndhu (unit 1), together with Leslie Baartman, had a lot to do with orchid identification on the estate before I got here and their work certainly helped in identifying many of the orchids I have come across since being here. Hell, my comprehensive orchid identification book was even given to me by Graeme, who recently visited me in my office and, after enthusiastically showing him some of my discoveries, suggested I showcase the Finsbury orchids on a blog.  

I will introduce all the species I have found so far, and describe how you can find them in two parts because it is a long list. Below is a gallery of the species that I have found so far on the estate and a short description of where and when to find them:

PART ONE

The orchids in the genus Brownlea have the median petal modified as a hood and a spur. This is a Dark Blue Brownlea, Brownlea coerulea. Very common on the floor in the shade of the forests in the upper Majubane waterfall walk during February and March. Pollinated by long-probiscid flies.

Galpin's Brownlea, Brownlea galpinii, is a mimic of the Wild Scabious, Scabiosa columbaria, and so does not produce it's own nectar. This Brownlea is not as common as the previous species and I have only encountered it a few times. This one was photographed in the moist grasslands just at the source of the gorge that runs into Rock Solid (unit22) from the base of Mount Prospect.

This Small-flowered Brownlea, Brownlea parviflora, is rather easy to overlook in the grassy plains and so I have only encountered one once in the flat plains of Haartebeesvlakte and one on the slope south of, and very close to the Hidden Valley sundowner spot. Flowering in February and March, they are pollinated by Anthophorid Bees.

Kassner's Dog-orchid, Cyanorkis kassneriana, is a common orchid that flowers from January until now. They can be found in all the montane forests on the estate. Also easy to spot between the Pine needles in the Pine forest above "The Crofts", unit 19.

The Disa genus contains the most species of the South African orchids, and like the Brownlea genus, the median petal is modified into a hood and a spur. In last months blog, I featured a little blurb about the Highland Doublwing, Disa alticola. I mentioned how, during the bioblitz that I attended next door, we discovered a colony of these lovely little orchids near the Rattray's repeater up on Goudkoppies. Before this, they were only known from 5 other locations and so this colony was mapped by the botanists from SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute) the following week. I also mentioned that I accompanied Louise Twiggs, the artist from "the Crofts", up to this spot to photograph the plant so she could paint it. Well, this is a photo of her stunning painting. Well done, Louise, you have captured it perfectly! Visit Louise's website at louisetwiggs.co.za or on facebook at LouiseTwiggsArt to check out her other amazing work. This orchid is listed as "Vulnerable" in the Red List of South African Plants. 

This Pleasant Doublewing, Disa amoena, has an extremely localised distribution and is only found in this small area surrounding Lydenberg. It is, however, rather common here at higher altitudes and I have already found 4 different colour forms, some within the same colony, on the estate. See the long spurs extending from the rear of the flowers, only long-probiscid flies can pollinate these orchids.This orchid is listed as "Vulnerable" in the Red List of South African Plants.

This Pleasant Doublewing, Disa amoena, has an extremely localised distribution and is only found in this small area surrounding Lydenberg. It is, however, rather common here at higher altitudes and I have already found 4 different colour forms, some within the same colony, on the estate. See the long spurs extending from the rear of the flowers, only long-probiscid flies can pollinate these orchids.This orchid is listed as "Vulnerable" in the Red List of South African Plants.  

The Baure's Doublewing, Disa baurii, is widespread but uncommon in its range. This is the only one I have ever encountered on the estate and I have even returned to the spot in the grasslands just below the sundowner spot right up on top of the Razorback road where I found it, and have not seen it again. It blooms in the early spring in September and October.

Is that not stunning! Standing 400mm tall, with lush cauline leaves, it is a Club-horned Doublewing, Disa clavicornis, and I have only encountered it twice on the estate so far, and believe me, when I did, I fell to my knees and cried out in joy! The first time was in the high altitude grasslands between Steenkamp's waterfalls and Mount Anderson's peak. This one I found right up on the summit of Mount Anderson in December 2017, a great month to visit the summit for special flowers of all kinds. This orchid is listed as very rare and as "Endangered" in the Red List of South African plants.

A sensual Kluge's Doublewing, Disa klugei, another species restricted to the grasslands only around Lydenburg. Besides finding 3 individuals up on Goudkoppies during the recent bioblitz, I have only found them twice before on the estate, with an easy-to-find individual beside the path of the Rock Kestrel Trail just before it meets the access road to Rod's Rest (unit 7). Also listed as "Vulnerable" in the Red List of South African plants.

A sensual Kluge's Doublewing, Disa klugei, another species restricted to the grasslands only around Lydenburg. Besides finding 3 individuals up on Goudkoppies during the recent bioblitz, I have only found them twice before on the estate, with an easy-to-find individual beside the path of the Rock Kestrel Trail just before it meets the access road to Rod's Rest (unit 7). Also listed as "Vulnerable" in the Red List of South African plants.

The Spreading Doublewing, Disa patula, is represented by 2 subspecies on the estate. This, the transvaalensis subspecies' inflorescence is narrower than the patula subspecies and the spur and median sepals are slightly different. This individual is located right beside the Rock Kestrel Trail path, but this time at the beginning, just after the first slope 300 meters from the parking in Hidden Valley. Both subspecies are common in our grasslands between November and January.

This striking little orchid is pretty common in our high altitude grasslands, particularly on the open flats of Goudkoppies, between December and February. It only stands about 10 - 15cm from the floor but the bright colouration makes it quite easy to spot. It is a Spike-like Doublewing, Disa stachyoides.

This, the Sterkers Doublewing, Disa sterkeriana, is the orchid I was mentioning in the introduction to this blog, the one that was not in my orchid book because it was only recently described. The only plants of this species known are found on the very tippy-top of Mount Anderson between the middle of January to the end of February. That's it! In the whole world! Because of this, it is listed as "Critically Endangered" in the Red List of South African plants. Every year I hike up to the summit during that time just to get another look at these spectacular flowers so, if you want to see them, let me know and you can join me next year when I go again.

This is a close-up of a single flower on the long inflorescence of a Variable Doublewing, Disa versicolor, that stands a good half a meter tall. This one I found in the marshy grasslands just above River Lily crossing on the Rock Kestrel Trail. I had only encountered this single individual until Trent from next door found another right down in the valley near the Origstad Nature Reserve during the recent bioblitz. The name is derived from the variable colouration of the flowers from individual to individual. 

The next genus we move on to is the Disperis genus, named the Granny Bonnet orchids because their flowers resemble that old traditional headwear. These, the Horn-flowered Granny Bonnet, Disperis anthoceros, are found in small colonies and are relatively common on the forest floors of the estate but quite easily overlooked because of their small size. Find them midway between the parking and the Steenkamp's waterfalls during February and March.

Fannin's Granny Bonnet Orchids occupy the darkest, shadiest spots on the forest floor and are in flower between January and March. When first seen, they appear to be a bunch of clansmen holding a secret meeting in the forest! Instead of producing nectar, these flowers produce an oil that is sought after by Oil-collecting Bees from the Melittidae family. These solitary bees, from the oldest known bee fossils 100 million years ago, have pouches on their legs that carry oil instead of pollen. The bee uses this oil to waterproof the underground chamber that she has prepared for her offspring. She also mixes some of the oil with pollen that she leaves in this chamber, with her eggs, as food for her young once they hatch (other bees mix nectar with pollen for this).

I found this Lindleyana's Granny Bonnet, Disperis lindleyana, together with Fraser Moore from Rock Solid, unit 22, in December while exploring the gorge above Solitude Valley (while hiding away from incessant lightning!). Although it was the first one that I have found, they are apparently common amongst pine needles on the floor of plantations.

These little orchids stand about 10cm tall and the flowers are only about 5mm long. It is a Small-flowered Granny Bonnet, Disperis micrantha, and although they are quite common amongst leaf litter on the forest floor, they are also very easily overlooked. You can be sure to find a colony on the floor of the thicket that surrounds my old digs, the outside room just below Solitude, unit 5, right now, in fact (I will go check tomorrow). In the 4 years I stayed there, one little individual bloomed from a little depression caused by a broken-off branch on a Quilted Bluebush tree every season without fail, although there was so little soil in the depression that I could clearly make out the bulb of the plant.

I was just reaching a false horizon up above Steenkamp's waterfalls on the way to Mount Formosa, when I came eye-to-eye with this very strange looking orchid, a Disperis renibractea which thankfully gave me reason to pause. This Granny Bonnet orchid also produces oil instead of nectar and so attracts melittid bees. Interestingly, there are 2 sub-tribes of orchids in South America that also produce oil instead of nectar. But instead of being visited by a female bee, they are instead visited by male Euglossine bees, called Orchid Bees, that sweep up the oils with their front legs, squeeze the oil-drenched combs with their second pair of legs so that the oil drips into spongy sacks attached to their hind legs. In fact, the male bee spends a lot of his valuable time seeking out these volatile oils that he requires to mix together and emit, in his territory, as a perfume to advertise his prowess and hopefully attract a female with which to mate. The above orchid can be found in open grassland from December till February.    

This little flock of alien avian creatures was hiding amongst the grasses on our boundary with Whisky Creek and Emoyeni, above the Majubane waterfall, close to Little Joker Koppie. This is a Narrow-spurred Granny Bonnet, Disperis stenoplectron, and, again, is an oil producing orchid. It is also known to hybridise, naturally, with Tyson's Granny Bonnet. Now, during the introduction to this blog, I mentioned how the pollinia of orchids adhered to specific body regions of the pollinating insect so as to avoid hybridising with closely related species. This is because orchids hybridise very easily and that is another reason why they are so popular to horticulturalists the world over. Orchid breeders call a recognized hybrid breed a "grexe" and there are more than 100 000 official grexes in the world derived from 5000 species of orchids and their hybrids. In nature, though, hybridization is rare but common enough in some orchids to have necessitated the creation of terms like "hybrid swarms" to describe a situation when offspring  are produced by cross-pollination between two hybrids or one or both of their parents. These Hybrid swarms cover the full continuum of variations between the two species and really throw a spanner in the works!

I found this Thorncroft's Granny Bonnet, Disperis thorncroftii, and photographed it in December 2014 and I cannot remember where. This is even more frustrating when I consider that it is regarded as very rare and is only found in limited forests in the country, both coastal and montane.

Sweet! I first encountered one of these little orchids growing in leaf litter on the floor of a Black Wattle thicket that me and my team were destroying on the side of the gorge behind Bulldozer Creek, unit 21, some years ago. I excitedly took photos and that night, when I checked my photos and identified the orchid, I saw that my pictures were all blurred because my camera lens was smeared with something. On learning that it is regarded as rare, I immediately set out the next day to get some clear photos and, alas, it was nowhere to be found. All I found were work boot tracks from when my team moved through there the day before. It was only a few years later when I cut the Olinia Gorge trail in Hidden Valley that I found a whole colony of about a dozen individuals flowering beside the stream close to the exit of the gorge. Go there between February and now to get a glimpse of them. It's worth it. 

I will move on to the Eulophia genus in PART TWO in a few days. One thing this shutdown has done for me, is given me ample time to work on my flower project and I have just completed sorting all flowers on my list, which is well over 600 species, into a "Flowers by Colour and Month" format that I will try to download onto the website soon. You will, hopefully, be able to download it onto your phone or tablet so you can take it out into the field and use it to help identify the flowers you see on the estate.

Cheerio and stay safe!