WINTER 2024
And so, the total precipitation over the estate for the last rainy season, ending at the end of August, was: The lowest, 535mm, measured at Patrick's gate on the western edge of the estate; 743mm, measured at the hatchery by the office, in the center of the estate; the highest, 867mm, measured at Pebble Creek on the extreme northern side of the estate; 804mm, measured at Rock Solid on the eastern side of the estate; and another low figure of 697mm, measured at Rainbow Rivers down on the southern side of the estate; bringing the average rainfall figure, for Finsbury Estate, to 729mm, the third lowest figure for a season since we started measuring rainfall in 2010, and way below the mean average of 920mm per annum.
The opening photo above shows how dry and hazy it has been lately, with the summit of Mount Anderson in the distance. Winds have been howling and the threat of fire has been great. The photo was taken, by me, at the beginning of August when Nick Moore from Rock Solid and I decided to sleep over on top of Goudkoppies. The following day we hiked along the edge of the Goudkoppies flats and this is where we decided to stop off for a quick cup of tea.
I don't want to get my hopes up, but the long-range forecast suggests a wet spring and early summer which will certainly be welcome.
These are another two examples of crustose lichens, the bright orange Firedot lichen, Caloplaca cinnabarina (see blog of May 2019) and, below the tip of the pen, Crescent Map lichen, Rhizocarpon lecanorinum, both of which have a cortex and a layered construction.
There were certainly very cold snaps, where it got down to minus three in the mornings, during the winter, but it was generally quite a mild one. One freezing morning, though, the labour team called me over to show me something they were very excited about. They were working on the little weir wall at the weir on the driveway to Rainbow Creek (unit 2), and they took me behind into the bush on the other side of the stream where a water pipe had a spraying leak. The resulting landscape was like something out of a fantasy movie! The photo doesn't do it justice, it was like an icy wonderland!
In the middle of May, I encountered the new male leopard that has been sighted on and around the estate in recent times. It was certainly one of the best leopard sightings I've had at Finsbury to date, with the large male walking right past my Landrover!
It's quite a story because I had my daughter and her beau visiting me from the United States during this time and we had just returned from our first visit to the Kruger Park where we managed to see good sightings of lion and an excellent cheetah sighting, which provided an exciting and satisfying first safari experience for the boyfriend. We didn't see leopard, though, and my daughter told her friend that there was always a chance we would see a leopard at Finsbury while they were staying here (I, of course, rolled my eyes, thinking: fat chance!)
BUT, when I saw this great sighting, I was returning from a shopping trip from town on my own, with daughter and company back at the central area in my house!
I bumped the large male leopard in Highland Run, just before the entrance gate to Finsbury near "The Crofts" (unit 19). Just after he strolled nonchalantly past my vehicle, I rushed home to collect my visitors but knowing that the chances of finding him again would be slim. Unbelievably, we managed to find him again, as he was marking his territory by spraying urine close to the cleared area in Highland Run, just below the cottage. What great luck!
He looks like a bit of a "roffie", because he has a very scarred face, meaning he is not shy to get into a fight with rivals. I featured this male in my SUMMERTIME! blog, posted on 9 February 2024, where I posted a picture of him, taken by one of our trophy cameras, at K24. This was the first sign of him in our area. I also posted a photo, taken by our neighbours, of him and our dominant male together, facing off! According to our neighbour, he was dominated by our big male, and so we thought it would be the last we see of him. It seems it is not to be. When we saw him in Highland Run, he was actively marking territory, a direct challenge to our current male.
It looks like we have had a changing-of-the-guard on the estate...
Talking of visitors, we had an interesting visitor to K9, only for two days, though, in the middle of winter. A Greylag Goose, Anser anser, the type species of goose in the world. Yes, this is the goose, found in England, Europe and Asia, that occurs in all the fables and nursery rhymes from our childhood! This is the wild ancestor to the domestic goose, domesticated in Europe between 2500 and 1360 BCE.
Don called me on the radio one morning to say there was a large goose at K9, which he was struggling to identify. On approaching K9, the first thing I noticed was its large size. This immediately led me to think that it must be a Spur-winged goose, South Africa's largest goose. Later, Don sent me a message with a picture of a Greylag goose, which he had found on the internet. To be honest, I had never even heard of a Greylag goose before!
Anyway, I decided to try to approach the bird for a photograph, keeping in mind that a goose can be an aggressive animal if it chooses. I was surprised, though, that the goose allowed me to approach very closely, before threatening me, allowing me to get some nice photographs! This obviously means that it is used to the presence of humans, and it had just strayed from its normal home for a while.
These geese are herbivores that graze on grasses that grow underwater, like The Floating Clubrush, Isolepis fluitans, that one can see waving slowly below the surface in some of the weirs, or the Fennel-leaved Pondweed, Stuckenia pectinata, that likes to clog up the hatchery raceways. They also graze the grasses along the banks of the rivers. Once a mate is found, the pair will remain together until death do them part, which suggests that this was a single youngster, or an established adult that has lost his / her mate in some tragic event.
I have featured lichens in many of these publications in the past. Mainly because they are such a good example of mutual symbiosis, which is when two organisms work together for the benefit of both parties (compare to parasitism, where one species benefits while the other is negatively affected; or commensalism, where one species benefits while the other is unaffected), but also because they are beautiful, due to their often bright colours and bizarre growth forms. Jirre! It's just crazy how life pushes to the extreme just to exist!
In cross-section, the uppermost layer in most lichens, the part exposed to the elements, consists of tightly woven fungal hyphae (In normal fungi like mushrooms, the hyphae are the string-like strands that run through the soils, absorbing nutrients and moisture). This outer layer of hyphae is called the cortex. Beneath this tough protective layer of hyphae, or the cortex, is a layer of photobiont, usually consisting of algae, or sometimes a cyanobacterium, whose function it is to produce sugars through the process of photosynthesis. The following layer in cross section is a layer of more loosely woven fungal hyphae that offers structural support, and then, in foliose lichens particularly, there is a final layer that consists of rhizines, fungal hyphae designed to anchor the lichen body to the substrate, be it rock or bark of a tree.
In addition to the two species already taking part in the deal, many lichens also incorporate a third species of organism: a yeast. The function of the yeast is to produce bitter-tasting chemicals which act as a defensive mechanism to ward off predators like lichen-grazing bagworms (see blog of February 2020) or Booklice from the Psocodea order of insects (see blog of Winter 2023).
The three major growth forms of lichens are FOLIOSE, which look like leafy scales that usually adorn the bark of trees but also occur on rocks. Then there are FRUTICOSE lichens that have branches hanging from them. The third major growth form is CRUSTOSE, which grow like a crust on rocks and sometimes tree bark. These three growth forms can be subdivided into many different sub-forms. The lichen pictured above, that looks like yellow spray paint, is one of the simplest types of CRUSTOSE lichens called Powdered Gold-dust lichen, Chrysothrix candelaris. This, the finest of the crustose lichens, is classified as a leprose crustose lichen. The growth form is so simple that it doesn't form the layers in cross-section as described above, but simply consists of an irregular blend of hyphae and randomly scattered photobiont cells, lacking a cortex and rhizines. It doesn't even produce apothecia, the disc-shaped structures that produce the reproductive spores of the fungal part of the organism. Instead, it is rubbed off mechanically by the feet of animals or it drifts in the wind to attach to another substrate, where it will take hold and continue growing.
The simple design of this lichen means that it cannot accommodate a yeast population for defense purposes. Instead, it produces its own bright yellow usnic acid which is believed repel predators with its bitter taste. It is also believed that usnic acid has sun block properties and protects the exposed lichen from harmful UV-B rays, but this species is often associated with shade, so the former suggestion makes more sense.
The bright, cinnamon colour of the Firedot lichen is a result of the presence of a chemical called parietin, which protects the lichen from harmful UV-B rays, like the usnic acid in the species described before this. Parietin also has other functions that are advantageous to the organism, like usnic acid in the previously described species: The chemical also has antibacterial and antifungal properties that protect the organism from bacterial and fungal attack
In the Crescent Map lichen, the little black patches are the apothecia, the disks that produce the reproductive spores of the fungal component of the organism. These lichens develop a "cracked mud" appearance during the dry season as they desiccate, which disappear when the lichen absorbs water again when the rains fall. Also being exposed to full sun all day, Crescent map lichen also requires a sun screen and this is supplied by the presence of rhizocarpic acid, which is synthesised by exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
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Once again, the bright colour of the lichen is caused by the presence of anthraquinones, which act as a sunscreen. The synthesis of this chemical allowed these fruticose lichens to colonise much more inhospitable habitats than in those habitats they commonly occurred in. The benefits of this chemical are well illustrated by the fact that they are used in the production of dyes and are responsible for their light-fastness!
And once again, the pretty orange disks are the apothecia that produce the fungal spores that will drift in the wind, or be splashed away by raindrops, hoping to come into contact with the appropriate algal element of the relationship to form a new lichen.
Tree Lungwort, Lobaria pulmonaria, featured in my blog of January 2020, is a FOLIOSE lichen that grows in shaded areas on the bark of trees. This lichen is the result of a mutually symbiotic relationship between a fungus, an algae AND a cyanobacterium, forming a single organism that incorporates representatives of three different kingdoms of organisms!
This lichen is very sensitive to pollution and disruptions and its population has declined dramatically in the past few decades and is now considered endangered in many areas.
The species accommodates two types of photobiont, a blue-green algae and a green algae which supply carbohydrates to the organism, while a blue-green cyanobacteria fixes nitrogen in the atmosphere for the benefit of the organism. Very industrious indeed!
Tree Lungwort is, like most lichens, very long lived, and only produces apothecia after about twenty-five years of age! Before this, though, the lichen can reproduce vegetatively. During the dry season, when the thallus is completely desiccated, it can become very brittle and pieces can break off and travel to a different location by the wind. Once the rains return, these desiccated pieces of the lichen will rehydrate, anchor itself suitably, and continue to grow.
There is so much more in the world of lichens. I will endeavor to understand them better. It's hard, because they are extremely complex for my little brain to comprehend. But, wow, they are so prevalent on the estate, everywhere!
Oh goody! Another great photograph supplied by Dave DeVos from "The Croft's" (unit 19). This time it is of a Plain-backed Pipit, Anthus leucophrys, I think, taken on the dry, rocky slopes along the concrete two-track between Patrick's gate and that unit.
I say "I think" because it's a tough one: The Plain-backed Pipit is almost indistinguishable from the Buffy Pipit, Anthus vaalensis, with which it often shares a habitat. They are even found amongst each other at popular sights! According to the various distribution maps that I consulted, there is more chance that this is the Plain-backed because the Buffy prefers it drier than here, and not as high up so, I'm not sure if their local distributions overlap in this particular area.
The pinkish mandibular base, clearly visible in Dave's photo, however, is, according to descriptions, more characteristic of the Buffy (the Plain-backed has a more yellow mandibular base). But, when I check the photos at various sources, they both seem to have pinkish bases. Only in a few pictures did the Plain-backed have a yellow base. Phew! It kills me!
Anyway, when I walk in the rocky grasslands near this sighting, the sparrow-like call of the Plain-backed as the pair move from rock to rock is unmistakable. I know this because I had my tablet with me, like, a fortnight ago, and I played the call on my birding app while the real birds were calling, and it was identical. The call of the Buffy is similar, but very different if you compare them side by side.
Even their behaviour is similar. It is said that they both cock and wag their tales, but the Plain-backed does not cock the tail above the horizontal, whereas the Buffy does. Gee, lots of very slight differences to observe.
Additionally, Roberts' says that the Buffy is an uncommon resident and nomad, while it says the Plain-backed is a common resident and nomad. So, if Buffy do occur here, then I'm not sure about the species, but the Plain-backed definitely does occur here. I'll put my money on the Plain-backed Pipit.
You've got to be bad if the scientific name applied to your species spells it out bluntly! This is a soldier Common Fungus-growing termite, Odontotermes badius, and the "badius" does refer to the fact that they are bad. Bad for you if you have a wooden house, that's for sure. Whenever and wherever you are on the estate, if you see a layer of mud covering the bark on a tree, or a wooden stump on the floor, even covering a pile of herbivore droppings, you can be sure that, beneath that mud, are a portion of a colony of these termites eating the wood away.
It's a little sad actually, because these insects do absolutely no harm to any living thing. They are also very important in the ecological system in any environment as soil aerators and nutrient recyclers. The problem comes in because we like to build things with dead wood, and dead wood is to these termites what sugar is to ants. They don't actually eat the wood, though, as it would not provide enough nutrition to keep the termites alive, so they have had to make a plan.
So, the termites gather up and chew wood and other dead vegetation and bring it into a group of chambers strategically positioned within the nest so that they remain at a relatively constant temperature with a consistently high moisture content. They pile the vegetation on top of itself, using the chewed vegetation to cement it and their faeces to fertilise it, until it forms a shape that is not unlike a human brain. Because the conditions are so favourable, Termitomyces microcarpus fungus grows on the vegetation, consuming it. The termites, when they require high quality food to raise special castes like reproductives or secondary / tertiary queens, harvest the fungus and feed it to the relevant larvae. The definition of farming!
Unlike the Macrotermes fungus-growing termites from the Kruger Park, with the huge mounds pointing into the sky, this genus' species' nests are deeper in the ground and do not have a mound. Sometimes there is a dome-shaped rise in the ground above a nest, but I have not noticed any in the estate to date. The only times I have managed to pin-point a nest is when I have found a colony of the correct species of mushrooms growing on a certain spot, and beneath that spot there is sure to be a termite colony's nest.
Most species of fungus that grow inside termite mounds produce long pseudorhizas that reach to the surface of the ground when they are ready to produce a fruiting body, but these tiny mushrooms don't need to because the Common Fungus-growing termite, around the middle of summer, when the time is right for the fungus, removes pieces of fungus from the garden and transports them outside of the nest and places them onto the ground where the fungi will produce fruiting bodies (mushrooms). It's almost like the termites have a conscious respect for the fungus. We certainly could learn a bit from them!
The mushrooms are not just edible for us, but much tastier than normal Denny's mushrooms too! And, although they are small, they are usually plentiful where they occur. I harvested a bunch of them and enjoyed the taste when they were raw so much, that I had finished them by the time I returned home so could not cook them to taste. (see my blog of Christmas 2021 to see a photograph of the mushrooms)
Even though it gets really cold in parts of South Africa, our snakes do not hibernate like those in the northern climes, so it is certainly not unusual to see a snake out and about on a sunny winter's day. This is a Rhombic Skaapsteker, Psammophylax rhombeatus, and I stumbled upon it on one of my hikes this last month. It did not want me to take a photo of it and tried to bite me a few times as I manipulated it for the intended photoshoot. You can see its mouth half open, hoping I would put my hand close enough!
If it had bitten me, it would not be a problem because, although they do have an elapid-like neurotoxic venom, it is very mild and would have very little effect on a large mammal like a human. Or a sheep for that matter! The misnomer "Skaapsteker" (translated to Sheep Biter) was applied to this snake erroneously as the culprit for the deaths of sheep a long time ago. The snake responsible was probably the Cape Cobra, a much more secretive, and dangerous snake.
Its venom, though, is very effective on its target prey, which includes small mammals, birds and reptiles. It is a daytime hunter and actively searches for, and pursues, its chosen prey. After a rapid chase, the snake bites the victim and then follows it as it is quickly overcome by the venom. Once it has succumbed, the snake swallows it whole, headfirst.
The gravid Rhombic Skaapsteker lays two dozen or more eggs under leaf litter, rocks, or other suitable cover, and returns to the sight to protect and incubate the eggs, often by shivering on top of the eggs to create a bit of heat, for at least a few weeks after laying. This sort of parental care is very rare in reptiles, particularly snakes. I have heard that African Rock pythons also incubate their eggs, but to a lesser degree.
They are quite big, reaching up to a meter long, but usually forty to sixty centimeters long, active in the day, and highly mobile, so are one of the more common snakes sighted on Finsbury estate.
As I have mentioned before, I love it when I manage to get photos of both the caterpillar and the moth / butterfly of the same species onto my files. This is the caterpillar and adult moth of a Temnora pylades, with an odd English name of Gate Temnora. These moths belong to the Sphingidae or Hawkmoth Family and, like many family members, are important night time pollinators of many plants that have white flowers that are open at night, like our Wild Jasminum species, Evening Primroses and others.
The caterpillars are characteristically smooth with a short, upright horn at the end of the body, and although they are quite well camouflaged, they also pull their heads into an inflated body and display eyespots by the tail that surely can give a potential predator a scare.
The female, when ready, searches out and finds a plant with the awkward name of Anthospermum welwitschii (no common name), on which she lays a large batch of eggs. After hatching, the caterpillars eat exclusively from this plant in the Coffee family until it is ready to spin a cocoon and pupate.
Well, this was quite a fun experience for me. A while back, I can't even remember when, I was leading a hike below the east-facing cliffs of Goudkoppies near Nosey point, when I noted a Mount Anderson Everlasting shrub growing in an inaccessible portion of the cliff. I promptly forgot about this and carried on with life. Why I was so blase is still not completely clear to me, because it was actually quite a significant find: The Mount Anderson Everlasting, Helichrysum summo-montanum, is a near endemic, meaning it only occurs in a small area, in this case a few hundred hectares, on the entire planet!
I have blogged about this plant before (blog of August 2020), and Louise Twiggs, our treasured Finsbury artist, has even painted the only individual that was near our boundary in water colour. The painting is on display on the wall of the office. Unfortunately, the devastating twenty-eighteen fire destroyed this specimen.
This discovery, though, is even more important because it consists of a colony of, at least, nine individuals slap-bang in the middle of Finsbury Estate property! A newly discovered colony - outside of the established distribution circle, which is along the watershed between our valleys and the Sabie valley (I did hear, though, that one of the MTPA botanists did see one of these individuals a few years ago during a bioblitz from Mount Anderson Ranch - but it was not mapped)
Anyway, when I was hiking along the watershed this winter and saw some of these magnificent plants in full bloom, I suddenly remembered about the vague sighting of the plant that I had on that hike along the base of the Goudkoppies cliffs and made it my mission to relocate it and, hopefully, photograph it while it was in bloom. I did a hike with some fine folks from Finsbury House and scoured the incorrect portion of the cliffs. I then went on my own, one day, and found the elusive plant together with a bunch of smaller specimens. They were in full bloom!
The problem now, was to get a close-up photograph of the magnificent flowers. Problem? Why? Because they were attached to a bush anchored to a sheer cliff dangerously high. I attempted to climb from the bottom and got to a point where, on looking down, I began to tremble and doubt my sanity. I then tried to get a visual from the top and, very quickly, ran out of nerves as I approached the cliff edge!
When Nick Moore and I went camping up on Goudkoppies recently (refer to the opening photograph), the reason I chose the spot we stayed at, was because I wanted to see if, together, Nick and I would be able to get a photograph of this plant. Alas, Nick also thought it would be very silly to try and approach the bush for a photo - too dangerous! What to do?
I finally arrived at a solution and managed to borrow Charles Stewart's (unit 16 Jackpot Cottage) drone. Good stuff! so I took the drone up with me the following week and, believably, I forgot to bring along the cord that connects the controller to the cellphone! So I could fly the drone, but not see what I was photographing. I tried anyway but failed dismally.
The following two days were extremely windy and not suitable for piloting a drone. Finally, the day arrived, and I went out there early in the morning when the wind was at its slowest in a long time. I sent the drone up and immediately attracted the attention of a murder of about a dozen crows! They were very interested in the drone, and I got a pretty good video of them circling it while flying. Fortunately, they didn't attack the drone and I managed to get some pretty good images of the shrub with its flowers wide open, as above!
Beautiful! And the scientific name too. It translates to: GOLDEN SUN ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP.
It looks like winter is finally coming to an end, although there is still frost on the floor some morning, even though September has arrived. Everything is waiting for the rains to arrive. Life is ready to explode on the estate and I'm ready for it! Can't wait to see you all.
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