AUGUST 2022
I'm sure I remember starting off my previous blog (Winter 2022) with a statement that it was such a nice, mild winter. Well, it seems I spoke too soon. The month of August was very cold! With frost on most mornings right up till the end of the month! August was dry too, and windy like it usually is. It is also the month in which the rainy season officially begins although, as usual but unlike last season, it was without rainfall.
It is interesting to note that rainfall occurred in each and every month of the previous rainy season with the following figures recorded around the estate: This is the second season that I recorded the rainfall in five different locations on the estate. The Central Area (where the office is located) is where the rainfall has traditionally been measured and the season figure for 2022/3 was 1085mm, the highest of the season; as expected, the lowest record was at Patrick's gate on the western border of the estate (only about three kilometers from the Central Area!) with 723mm which is about eighty percent higher than the average for the Lydenburg bushveld biome on which Rivendel is situated (so they had a very wet season); then, in the north of the estate the reading was the second highest, at 1014mm, recorded from the gauge at Pebble Creek (unit 25); the eastern recordings, from the gauge at Rock Solid (unit 22), gave us a seasonal total of 969mm, still higher than the annual average of 890mm; then, the south of the estate had a drier season for whatever reason. There, the gauge at Rainbow Rivers (unit 17) only recorded 793mm, less than the annual average. This is noticeable when one looks at the current lower levels of the Majubane river compared to the others, especially the Kliprots.
If you visited the estate during the end of July or during August, you will not have failed to notice the large, blooming Aloes on and around Klipspringer Hill on Rivendel farm from the access road to Finsbury. They are called Cat's Tail Aloes, Aloe casteana, the tallest of the Bottlebrush Aloes (ie. A. alooides, A. vryheidensis, A. spicata). Aloes are pretty odd-looking plants as it is, but the Cat's Tail Aloe is even more so with its randomly twisting inflorescences with their dull orange flowers twisting up them. The specific epithet casteana is the Latin genus name for Chestnut and refers to the copious, chestnut-brown nectar that is produced by the flowers, relished by the Rock Thrushs featured below.
The Aloe genus is essentially an African endemic but for its presence on the Yemeni island of Socotra and just north of that in the Arabian Peninsula, although most species up there, especially on Socotra, are endemics to their tiny areas. They also occur in Madagascar where they have evolved from a common ancestor, quite differently from how ours have since this island separated from us here in Africa. The Madagascan aloes are all endemic to Madagascar. But Southern Africa, where the greatest species diversity occurs, also boasts about an eighty percent endemism rate and many of these are endemic to tiny little areas too. And so, although there are some widespread species, most aloes are evolved for a particular geography or microclimate and only occur there or more likely, since many species grow in gardens and nurseries all over the world, have relatively recently speciated and simply haven't had time to disperse widely. This Cat's Tail Aloe only occurs, naturally, in the odd-shaped triangle from Middelburg to Lydenburg to Polokwane and back to Middelburg.
Looks like a big Christmas tree with Baboons instead of decorations! It's the White Stinkwood, Celtis africana, in the north-western corner of the hatchery. Well. I think it is a White Stinkwood because the one just outside the front door of the office is, so I suspect a close neighbour to be too. The reason for my doubt is that the indigenous White Stinkwood is very difficult to tell apart from its exotic relative, the Chinese Hackberry, Celtis sinensis, which is a popular garden tree in South Africa. They occur in the estate around Morrin Pools (unit 14) and a very prominent specimen grows beside the M2 sign. The only way to tell them apart, really, is the indigenous one has hairy leaves as opposed to the smooth leaves of the exotics.
Anyway, I can't tell now because the leaves are still forming after dropping off the tree at the beginning of winter. What you do see on the tree, though, are the small green flowers. And obviously the baboons are relishing them! I watched for a while and the youngsters were playing about but still plucking the tiny flowers off the branches and popping them into their mouths. The females and slightly older males were concentrating on hastily picking as many flowers as possible, one at a time - pick-put-in-mouth, pick-put-in-mouth. The big male (top, left of centre) was guzzling the flowers down by putting his lips over the branch with flowers, and pulling the branch through his lips to strip the flowers off en-masse!
Baboons are great survivors and enjoy an incredibly varied diet from fruits, berries, seeds, grasses, sedges, shoots, roots, bulbs and corms to insects and other arthropods and even meat, like baby antelope hunted by the baboons themselves. Flowers, like on this White Stinkwood, are savoured for their pollen and nectar. Primatologist Andrew Whiten calculated on one occasion that a small group of five adult baboons consumed more than thirty thousand Iris (Moraea) flowers in less than three hours in the Drakensberg
A worried me went and checked the tree after the troop had moved off to see if there were any flowers left or if a whole generation was wiped out in one sitting! No worries, I found the tree no worse for wear. There were still plenty flowers. In fact, it was hard to see where they were removed. I suppose the greatest advantage of producing tens-of-thousands of tiny flowers assures that even a sustained onslaught by a ravaging troop of baboons is still not catastrophic.
This is a female Red-head Black Velvet Cockroach, Deropeltis erythrocephala, and it is one of the many species of Wild Cockroach found in the grasslands of the estate. In other words, it is not one of the three domesticated species occurring in South Africa, although they have been reported to establish themselves in homes. Domesticated species cannot survive successfully outside of human dwellings.
Cockroaches are very primitive insects said to have evolved from a common ancestor, with Mantids, well over three hundred million years ago and up to four hundred and twenty years ago in the Devonian. I have always been taught that besides Mantids, cockroaches were the closest relatives to the Isoptera order of insects, Termites, and that the similarity of termites to ants was just because they had a similar social caste system to the ants, ants being much more advanced than termites and much more recently evolved. I was not surprised to learn recently that termites are now included in the same order as cockroaches, the Blattoidea. In fact, some species of cockroach are closer related to termites than they are to other cockroaches!
So, cockroaches are really primitive termites and, like termites, are quite social, although not nearly as complexly social (eusocial with caste systems) as termites. In fact, entomologists have performed experiments where they have raised cockroaches in isolation and found that they were less likely to explore or even to leave their bases. They were slower eaters and took longer to identify receptive females, proving how important sociality is for them.
This species, the Redhead Black Velvet roach, is found in our open grassland and, in the dry season like now, they congregate in groups under rocks. Lift almost any rock up on Goudkoppies flats in August and there is a good chance you will find a group of males (with wings), females (without) and nymphs (babies that look like smaller females) in all growth stages. Males are attracted to females by pheromones that the female leaves as a trace on the ground, which the male follows up on. When he finds her, he stridulates and displays until she allows him to mate. Once mated, the female produces an egg sack with eggs inside within her body, and the whole egg sack comes out once formed. She will drop the sack in an appropriately secret place. Once the eggs hatch, the nymphs will take care of themselves.
Oh! And on the subject of how difficult it is to kill a cockroach: Experiments have found that the decapitated body of a cockroach can survive for many hours and still possess the ability to run away and steer. A decapitated head can still move its antennae and, if nourished, can stay alive even longer than a few hours!!!
There's a bunch of special plants and trees that flowered during that awkward time between winter and spring and this one is endemic to the Drakensberg mountain range of which our part is called the Mpumalanga escarpment. It is the hardy, fynbos-type shrub that grows in colonies in our open grasslands called a Drakensberg Heath, Erica drakensbergensis. The flowers are striking but one must get up close because of their small size. The flower is a white bell that hangs down with a dark maroon pistil and purple stamens. Beautiful!
Of the over 850 species of heath, 690 are endemic with most of those occurring in the fynbos in the Western Cape. And only there. In fact, Erica is the largest genus of plants in the fynbos biome. Here on the estate, I have so far identified eight species with a potential few more to come. The Heath family, Ericaceae, also includes the Blueberries and Blackberries of the world. Here in Finsbury, we have the African Blueberry, Vaccinum exul, which fills up with fruit-shop quality blueberries at the end of summer each year. The flower of the Blueberry looks the same as the Drakensberg Heath's but is a little larger. The leaves, though, are much larger like a normal plant, whereas the heaths all have tiny, scaled leaves.
This is a Barbeton Groundsel, Senecio barbetonicus, growing on a narrow ledge high up beside the (usually) dry waterfall at the end of the path that leads to, and beyond, the mountain hatchery near Morrin Pools. It is a member of the Daisy family and the Senecio genus has a few species that are succulent. At least to a degree.
It is a plant that I had encountered only once before, what? A good eight years or more ago, nearby, on an adventure with a, then, young Fraser Moore from Rock Solid (unit 22). Alas, it was not in bloom then.... and it wasn't easy to get there again. So I didn't try ;) And so I only had photographs of the plant and not the flower in my files.
I recently climbed up to this ledge and found a bunch of beautiful specimens. I returned before the middle of August when they were due to be flowering and they were, as pictured above. They are not very common here because they are not frost resistant and so only occur where it is absent. And, the lowest point in Finsbury is right at the top of the elevation tolerance of the plant.
Anyway, as you can see, they are succulents with thick, finger-like leaves that point elegantly upwards and are popular in succulent gardens. They can be potted in small pots, big pots, in rockeries or just in the garden. You should find them on any succulent website where good advice is given. Nice find.
This is the office's pair of Cape Rock Trush, Monticola rupestris, foraging on the lawn in the central area of the estate. I say "the office's pair" because they are violently territorial with the male aggressively evicting other males and even other bird species. The male sits atop a vantage point and calls incessantly, with a rather pleasant jumble of whistles that doesn't sound too different than the Southern Olive Thrush most Joburgers know so well, to warn intruders off. All this means that it's probably the same pair we see around here all the time since they are sedentary and will only move to lower altitudes temorarily at the very coldest time of winter.
The scientific name is very appropriate: Monticola = (L) Mountain Dweller; rupestris = (L) Lives on cliffs or rocks. They are endemic to South Africa, including Swaziland, and occur in rocky, mountainous areas from the Western Cape up along the eastern side of South Africa to the Limpopo province. Because these birds tame quite easily towards humans and enjoy the habitat they create, this monogomous pair probably nest on a ledge on one of the buildings here at central. But they normally nest on ledges on cliffs, building a scraggly cup-shaped nest lined with fine roots, a nest they often use year after year if not disturbed.
The three or so chicks hatch after two weeks of incubation by their mother and are fed a variety of arthropods like insects, spiders, millipedes, centipedes, lots of caterpillars and worms and even small frogs and lizards by both parents until they fledge in just over two weeks. Thereafter, they remain close to the nest for a further ten days or so and are tutored and cared for by both parents before being chased off to fend for themselves.
It doesn't always go that smoothly, though, because these birds are one of the species that is targeted by the common summer visitor, the Red-chested Cuckoo or Piet-my-vrou. The pair of cuckoos continually attempt to access the nest and get violently chased off but are relentless! The male cuckoo ultimately attracts the vigilant Rock Thrushes away and all it takes is five seconds for the female cuckoo to land in the nest, push an egg out and lay one in its place. Five seconds and then she's off!
The cuckoo chick hatches together with the rock thrush chicks and then astonishing thing happens: Quite innocently. The cuckoo chick develops an incredible itch on the top of its back, out of reach. And as it stretches out with its tiny wings to try to reach the itch, it evicts the rock thrush chicks and unlaid eggs from the nest and off the ledge! The rock thrush parents then raise the remaining chick as their own.
Wow, atta boy! This is our big dominant male leopard called the Spekboom Male by our neighbours at Mount Anderson Ranch. Recognisable by his asian eyes, he is young, hasn't developed a dewlap yet but he seems to have established himself on our property and our neighbours north and west according to the data collected from the many camera traps set up by the MTPA each year. Looking at the condition of his ears, it looks like he has no respect for electric fencing and therefore probably ranges even further west. When male leopards, with their large territorial ranges, range into unprotected areas they are vulnerable to being shot by landowners or killed on the roads by vehicles, the biggest cause of death in these semi-urban areas.
This photo was taken by the camera trap that is set up, facing south, on the northern side of K24, at five past nine in the morning on the twenty-sixth of August. I left the camera there for six weeks from the middle of September to the end of August and, wow, that little weir is busy! With animals much more than flyfishers! Remember the camera is fixed in position and only takes a photograph if something walks within the sensor's range. In that time the camera spotted eight visits by anglers.
Animals were a different story: There were 33 visits of different duration (the camera keeps taking photos while the animal stays in its range while grazing or browsing, lying down and then getting up etc) and different Rams and ewes, some alone and some with lambs, of Bushbuck; 28 visits by various groupings of Warthog; 8 visits by Eland, usually at night for long periods; five visits by Leopard, at least one female and this male three times; 3 visits by a troop of Baboons passing through while foraging; 3 visits by Kudu, two lone males on different occasions and a breeding herd that spent a night there; 2 Civets passing by the camera about a week apart; 2 visits by a sounder of Bushpigs, both late at night; 2 visits by Porcupine, once a pair and once a large, solitary male; 1 visit by a Common Duiker ewe; and 1 visit by a Slender Mongoose!
And that's only in the little spot within the range of the camera! Pretty cool stuff!
That's it for August and the beginning of September. Spring is in the air and the rains are on the way. Life is about to explode into a cacophony of colour and noise...
