SPRINGTIME 2022
What a lovely spring it turned out to be! It was initially dry with a small sprinkle of unproductive rain and then the heavens opened. More precisely, September was dry, with an average rainfall, over the month, of a mere 9,6mm. Patrick's gate recorded the lowest figure of 5mm and Rock Solid in the east with the highest of 14mm. October was much wetter with an average of 70mm. The lowest figure of 59mm recorded at Rock Solid and the highest, 81mm, here at the office. Then November was even wetter with 14 days of rainfall and an average of 129mm falling on the estate. Pebble Creek in the north had a significantly higher recording of 186mm while Rainbow Rivers in the south recorded the lowest figure of 105mm, 74mm difference!
I realised that if I got started on my seasonal patch mosaic burns, the high rainfall would ensure that the affected areas were nice and green again by the jolly season. And so, I ignited two fires at the end of the first week of November and the two fires covered about 400 hectares with the smaller of the two burning the area north of Solitude valley, east of the Kliprots and south of Hidden valley. The larger fire burned south of Solitude valley, east of the Kliprots and north of Rock Solid, covering the latter half of the Rock Kestrel trail. That was three weeks ago, and the entire area is green and lush now.
The above photo of Mount Anderson with a little "cap" of clouds was taken on one of the rarer, clearer mornings just before sunrise from the trig beacon atop Mount Prospect, just east of where the larger of the two fires stopped burning. I think the Rock Kestrel trail will be productive with game during the festive season with its lush grasses, so you'd better start warming up for it.
Below is a little gallery of some of the things I encountered while traversing this wonderful estate during this pleasant spring:
This is a Lydenburg Opal, Chrysoritis aethon, a small, rather special butterfly, restricted to this area. Although the butterfly was first collected in 1879, near Lydenburg, it was only properly recognised by Pennington (the famous lepidopterist), also near Lydenburg, when the gold rush was in full swing, in 1934. I did feature this butterfly in my issue of January 2020, but I will repeat some of the information because it is espescially interesting.
In almost all ecosystems in which ants exist, they dominate in sheer numbers and ecologically as the major predator of arthropods. This dominance attracts associations with other species in the same ecological system and, generally, positive associations between ants and other species, be they plants, fungi, mollusks, insects or other arthropods, even birds, is called myrmecophily, which means "love of ants". Most myrmecophiles benefit defensively from ants' aggression and numbers, be it out in the field like scale insects (blog of June 2021, also aphids October 2020), or within the ants' nest (This butterfly and more than half of the butterflies in the Lycaenid family) like, my favourite example, the Hoover mite. This little mite has been used by ants for so long as a vacuum cleaner that it only survives in ants' nests. They are provided with safe, warm and cozy accommodations, in return for eating up all the nests litter, unwanted bacterium and harmful fungi. Many of these associations are "facultative", meaning they are not necessary for the survival of the species involved, but are a benefit. Like with the wax scales and the aphids. The Lydenburg Opal, the majority of Lycaenids (and the little Hoover mite), are obligatory myrmecophiles. This means that they need the association with the ants for their species' survival.
This is how it unfolds: The female butterfly searches for a species of host plant, in this case a Quilted Bluebush, very common on the estate, but she does not settle for one until she finds it infested with Cocktail ants, Crematogaster genus, while they are tending to facultative myrmecophiles like aphids or wax scales, or the site of a Cocktail ant colony's nest (see blog of July 2020). Only then does she lay a single egg amongst the ants, and the ants immediately pick the egg up and carry it back to their nest where it will be protected until it hatches. Once the caterpillar hatches, it exits the ant nest during the hours of darkness, following the well-used ant trail, feeds on the Bluebush and returns to the nest by dawn. All the caterpillar has to do is produce a small drop of extra-rich honeydew for the ants when they ask (by stroking the caterpillar with their antennae) in return for the accommodation and protection from these normally extremely aggressive predatory ants!
I found this Snowy Inkcap mushroom, Coprinopsis nivea, or Tippler's Bane, as the Europeans used to call it, on the Loop Road, standing proudly atop a lone warthog dropping! The proper name is very descriptive: Coprinopsis (Gr) = similar to Coprinus; Coprinus (Gr) = Living on dung; Niveus (L) = Snow-like, snowy, referring to the flaky white remains of the veil on the cap. Very appropriate.
Anyway, unlike most mushrooms that grow on dung, it is edible, although not tasty (says the literature for I have not tasted it). But if you do decide to eat one, make sure you do not drink alcohol for at least five days! The mushroom contains a mycotoxin called Coprine, a toxin that inhibits the development of the enzyme that breaks down alcohol in your system. So, if you eat the mushroom and then drink a beer, expect to get violently ill! Very much like those Antabuse tablets that are prescribed for alcoholism. The more alcohol you consume, the sicker you get. If you stop drinking, then the symptoms disappear within an hour or two. If you resume drinking within the following five days, you get ill again.
The "Inkcap" part of the name comes from the ability to extract a permanent, browny-black ink from the mushroom. Once the spores are produced in the gills, the gills begin to deliquesce into a black, gooey slime. That which drips to the floor, impregnates the floor with spores. The stink of the slime also attracts flies who transport the spores that stick to its legs and when the remaining slime dries, the spores flake off and are transported by wind to far-away places. For those that want to get the ink from the mushroom, simply place a few whole mushrooms into a glass jar and seal the jar for a couple of days until the jar contains a gooey black mess. Sieve the contents through a baking sieve and, Viola, what remains is a good quality ink, albiet a stinky ink!
This is a pair of Flea Beetles, most likely Diamphidia species, from the Alticini tribe of Leaf Beetles from the Chrysomelidae family of beetles (see blogs of Christmas 2021 and May 2020). A massive family of well-over 35000 described species and about the same amount yet to be described! All leaf beetles are plant feeders, in their larval and adult stages. The female lays her clump of eggs on the underside of a leaf and covers them with her concrete-like faeces to protect them. Once hatched, they munch the leaves of the tree they are born on, very much like the caterpillar of a moth or butterfly. Once developed, the larva drops off the tree and buries itself in the ground to pupate or, like the species in the article in my blog from last Christmas, hangs its pupa from the underside of a leaf. Then, out comes the adult beetle.
Now, one big difference between the alticini tribe and the rest of the Leaf beetles is the fact that they have enlarged back legs. Like that of a flea. And like a flea, used to quickly jump away from danger. No wonder they are so successful. In fact, it is difficult to imagine that they have enemies at all! First line of defense, they have the hard outer chitinous shell that all beetles possess. Then they have wings with which to fly away from predators; then they have these extraorinarily large hind legs enabling them to flick themselves away from predators; And finally, they are filled with toxins to protect them if a really persistent predator still manages to catch them!
I think I can narrow this species down to the Diamphidia genus, which is the genus whose species contain diamphotoxin, the toxin used by bushmen to poison the tips of their arrows. To achieve this, the San Bushmen would have to dig the larvae, that looks a lot like a "chicken worm" from the ground (A chicken worm is that fat, pale grub with an orange sclerotised head that we see in our compost heaps - the larvae of Scarab beetles) and then simple squeeze the juices from the larva onto the tip of the arrow.
Super! Another species of Dung Beetle for our list, making five species so far recorded on the estate. This is a small species (that is a single Mountain Reedbuck pellet it is preparing to roll) with no common name that I could find. Its proper name is Epirinis validus. Please refer to a blog on Dung beetles I posted during the first lockdown, on Wednesday 6th May 2020, to get some cool information on these remarkable beetles
This extremely scruffy moth, clinging to the very tip of a twig, is a Golden Tussock moth, Euproctis chrysophaea. They are a common site in the wooded riparian areas in the estate during a short time during the spring months, looking very much like small orange butterflies as they flutter around the river paths during the daylight hours. The species has a very short adult stage where all energy and resources, since the adults do not eat at all, are used solely for finding a mate and procreating. The pupal stage, within a silken and hairy cocoon, is also very short, a month or less.
The caterpillar stage is long, up to eight months in tropical areas, and the caterpillar is not very fussy which plants it eats either, so they can grow quite large. They have long, shaggy hairs, arranged in tufts or tussocks along the body, from whence the common name is derived. Hidden within these long, soft hairs are shorter, stiffer, barbed urticating setae which are hollow hairs attached, at the base, to a tiny venom gland, like a hypodermic needle with venom inside. These protect the caterpillar during this phase of its life and, when it spins its cocoon, it incorporates these setae into the silk which acts as a great defense against potential predators while it is a vulnerable pupa.
Now this is an eye-catcher! It's a Superb False Tiger, Heraclia superba, that I encountered very near the mysterious Southern Steenkamp's waterfall in the shaded gorge. The crumply wings indicate that it must have very recently emerged from its cocoon, which I searched for but didn't find. Most pupal stages during our spring and summer time are short, eight days to a month, suggesting this individual is the second generation this season. The last generation that pupates at the end of the season will over-winter in the pupal stage and emerge after the very first rains of the following season. Once the wings harden on this female, they will fold over her back like a black triangle blotched with white. The red secondary wings are only visible in flight, very much like the Knysna Turacos that flash crimson at the tips of their wings in flight here on the estate.
The resident pair of Southern Boubou, Laniarius ferrugineus, at the office brazenly built their nest in the cubby area of the old landrover from Coch-Y-Bunddhu (unit 1) while it has been parked here at the central area. Southern Boubou are not all that often seen but their sound is loud and I'm sure everybody has heard them as the monogamous pair sing in duet from thick bush. Both sexes initiate a duet but usually the male starts with a loud "Boobooboo!" (from whence the common name comes) and the female responds from nearby with a "Huhoowee!"
They are sedentary, meaning they are here all year round, with one recorded pair maintaining the same territory for eleven years! Not often seen because they are usually sneaking through the thick undergrowth searching for their arthropod prey, together with snails, small vertebrates like lizards and geckos, and even small mammals like mice! They also eat fruit and nectar, being a minor pollinator of Cliff Aloes here on the estate.
They build a nest, like in the photo, usually very well hidden in thick bushes but on this occasion, they decided to try the landrover dashboard out. It worked because within a month the chicks, two of them, had fledged and left the nest. The adults could indeed have a second brood but, unfortunately, they will have to build a new nest elsewhere because the old landrover will be washed and used soon.
The very hairy caterpillar of a Clay Monkey moth, Pyllalia patens, which I discovered beneath a rock in the high-altitude grasslands up on Goudkoppies plains. These caterpillars feed on Couch / Bermuda grass, Cynodon dactylon, which is the grass that grows in what were Blesbok middens, circles about a meter to two meters in diameter, up in the high-altitude areas of the estate (I usually point these circles out on the hikes that I conduct). They construct a little nest with an entrance tunnel under a rock nearby one of these circles of Couch grass where they rest up during the day. In the night-time, they come out and munch on the grass before returning to the safety of their nest again before daybreak.
Once they are fully developed, they spin a silken cocoon on the underside of the rock and, after pupating, emerge as a medium-sized, drab, brown moth. Incidentally, these caterpillars also have urticating setae (see above article on Tussock moth) strategically placed among those glorious long, soft hairs. They also, like the Tussock moth caterpillar, incorporate these hairs and setae into the construction of the cocoon which protects the pupa during that vulnerable stage.
I was sitting atop the mountain at the base of Little Joker koppie when I noticed a wasp fly underneath a rock on the ground. I climbed down and found a small wasp's paper nest, with only about eight compartments, so a tiny nest, hanging from the bottom of the rock on a level between the rock and the ground. I thought "gee, that's well hidden!" Even for a Paper wasp colony like that of these Polistes smithii wasps.
Now, if you go back and read the articles on Paper wasps in my blogs of June 2019 and October 2020, you will get a good idea of how the primitive social system of these wasps work. And also learn how they find and capture caterpillars to feed their young in the nest, like birds at a bird nest. They chew the caterpillar into pieces and feed the pieces to the young in the nest. But on this occasion, I saw worker wasps fly to the nest and give the pieces of caterpillar to the wasp who, instead of feeding them to the babies, she ate them herself (pictured)!
After further research, I found that the babies had probably not yet hatched in the nest and the workers were feeding the Foundress, the wasp that started the colony originally. Feeding the foundress is a gesture of subordination from the workers and helps establish the relationship between the foundress and her subordinates.
These Trees make a beautiful garden subject as a pruned small tree, or as a potted plant, or as a creeper and they are quite easily grown from seed or even transplanted as a truncheon. The thick foliage makes the tree a favourite for birds to build their nests in and, of course, the flowers are quite beautiful and, on good years, can cover the whole tree.
The tree contains a watery sap that is poisonous as with many members of the Oleander family (Apocynaceae) and the poison, containing cardiac glycosides, has also been used in the past to treat the end of spears and arrows. The fruit is also typical of the family and consists of a pair of horn-like projections that crack open on a seal to reveal seeds with long filaments of pure cellulose attached to act as sails to enable wind dispersion. These cellulose filaments are highly flammable and were used as a substitute for guncotton for the old musket guns.
An extremely photogenic Equine Maiden, Thyretes hippotes, posing beautifully on a vertical grass stalk. If you go back to my blog of Christmas 2021, you will see that I was quite excited to identify this moth here because the distribution maps indicate that they are a species found in the winter-rainfall areas of South Africa only. Well, I have now found quite a few so the distribution of the species needs to be revised. But what a beautifully designed animal, wow!
The Warthog sounder of a single female. Mommy warthog, on the right, with her son (front left) and daughter (behind) from her previous litter last season and three new little additions for this season. This photo was taken from the fixed-point camera situated at K24. productive, as always! The photo, taken in the last week of spring, shows how nice and lush it is right now!
One thing about the photo, though, is it is skew. I hate that! I always go to such pains to make sure the cameras are set level to the ground. Mmmn, something must have nudged the camera.....
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All one needs to do, is go back on the timeline of photos and see who was responsible for nudging the camera and... here we go! Two days, three-and-a-half hours earlier...
