Flower Spot 03 2015

Flower Spot 02 2015

Flower Spot 01 2015

Glad for Glads

Glad for Glads

Last time I wrote about how I have fallen for Streptocarpus flowers, well, I have "fallen"for a gazillion flowers in this place! Another genus that is well represented in this beautiful place is the genus Gladiolus. Now, most of us know Glads as a special type of flower reserved for the most posh of gardens. I, however, have managed to record eight species growing here in the wild. They are uber spectacular and bumping one while walking always seems to take ones's breath away. Here's a little gallery of the species that I have so far encountered. Remember, all photos have been taken by me, with my trusty old phone, here on the estate...

I mean, like, how's the G.ecklonii (third from the top)? Have you ever seen anything quite as spectacular? If you have not yet seen some of the above, then it's time to start walking this place (when the time is right, of course). Give me a call when you're here and, if the time is right, let's go walking...

Next time I'm gonna show you some Orchids I have found here. Not as many as Lesley Baardman has recorded yet but I'm on my way!

Beautiful Streptocarpus flowers!

STREPTOCARPUS PLANTS

Wow! Since I have been here, I have fallen completely for a certain genus of plant. It's called Streptocarpus, which means "Twisted Seed". Once the seed has germinated, it has a set of two cotyledons (Dicotyledon) or seed leaves and a tap root. As the plant matures only one of these cotyledons continue to grow and become the leaf while the other withers away. The plant then forms fibrous roots while the tap root withers away too. Therefore, you get a small plant consisting of a petiole (leaf stalk) and a leaf blade, no true leaves, really. The flowers are always spectacular, and are geared mainly (except for S.dunnii which may use birds for pollination.) to attract moths and mosquitoes for pollination in their dark, dank habitat. I have, so far, managed to find, photograph, identify and record six species of this magnificent plant on the Estate. Attached are photos of these. If, when the time is right, you would like to see some of these, give me a call and we will try to find them. It will, I guarantee you, require some serious adventuring because they live in deeeeeep, daaark places!!!

 Streptocarpus cyaneus

 Streptocarpus dunnii

 Streptocarpus galpinii

 Streptocarpus hilburtianus

 Streptocarpus polyanthus comptonii

Streptocarpus wilmsii

Successful Flower Walk!

Louise Twiggs (The Crofts / Unit 19) and I decided to challenge ourselves to try to identify 50 flowering plants in a day. So Louise, her lovely daughters Kenna and Ashley, the pooches, Graham and Rosa Leigh (Grilse Cottage / Unit 18) and their guests, and I headed off to the extreme North East end of the Estate and enjoyed a walk through the gorge East of Pebble Stream (Unit 25) on a perfectly clear day. We managed to photograph and identify 52 species of flowering plant in the day! Success!

The next two months are ideal for this sort of adventure, so if you come down here and are interested in this sort of excursion, contact me on the radio on your arrival or email the office prior to your arrival and we will make a date...

Updated checklists

Further to Jimmy's post below regarding the updated checklists, you can now view, download or print the checklists from the Checklists page (see tabs above).

With Thanks

THANK YOU FINSBURY

It has been over six weeks now so there is no chance of complications. I had a cataract removed from my right eye and now I can see like I probably haven't since I was a teenager.

THANK YOU Dr CHARLES STEWART (UNIT 16)

THANK YOU TO THE BOARD

THANK YOU FINSBURY

High Altitude Team on the rope

We've had the government sponsored High Altitude Team (to eradicate alien invasive plants in unreachable places) at the estate for some months now. But the absence of a safety officer has kept them off the ropes because the cliff areas in the Upper Majubaan gorges, where we have started the eradication programme, do not have suitable anchor points. They have then been operating as a ground team, clearing aliens from the river and slopes, with good progress.

The problem with the team is that, with their absailing qualifications, they are quickly snatched up by the private sector where salaries are much larger. So, this week we lost another chunk of the team. With only four guys left, I thought we should put them, for the first time, on the ropes on a cliff that sorely needed attention.

The cliffs below Unit 18 in the Steenkamps Valley are heavily infested with Wattle and the trees are becoming seed bearers. There are plenty of anchor points from the house itself so a safety officer was not neccessary.

What a pleasure to see those Wattles falling...

Added and updated checklists.

I have finally updated the checklist that appear in the house files. The Animal list (Mammals, Reptiles and frogs) has been updated with reference to the camera traps and personal and other confirmed sightings. Some common trees and shrubs have been added to the tree list and the names have been updated. The bird list has had the biggest changes with all the names updated and many changes to the species. Once again, it is guided by very concrete sightings.

I have also added a new checklist to the group, FLOWERS. This was difficult as there are so many to choose from so I decided to make it a checklist of 50 top flowers. To tick off all the flowers on the list, one will need to visit all the habitats on the estate, which means lots of adventuring.

These list are now in the house files or you can view them on the Finsbury Website.

New leopard shot!

Wow! Look what the CamTrap up on Razorback South has fetched for us. Young female (a year or less) in the day, finally! The date/time stamp is out of sync but judging by the shadows I'd guess between 07h00 and 08h00. Beautiful!

Chairman's report for 2014 AGM

Neville's report for the forthcoming AGM can be found here.

SOME UPDATES FROM OUR CAMTRAPS

Rob and I have been hoping to catch a Brown Hyaena on one of the CamTraps since I first got here. Until now,all we had to show for it is one very blurred photo that may or may not be a Hyaena. Then, about a month ago, Rob noticed a new Hyaena midden located at the junction of the Razorback South road and the new cycle path. I promptly set a CamTrap up at this spot and it has turned out to be one of the best spots so far. In the first two weeks a Brown Hyaena visited four times; a Serval visited three times and, amongst a bunch of general animals, a leopard cub (perhaps around 7 or 8 months old) visited the site twice!

Our first shot of a Brown Hyaena sniffing droppings at the midden

Three quarters of an hour later, another (or the same?) visitor.

This was the last shot taken before the CamTrap was ripped off it's anchor by the above culprit. Fortunately, the CamTrap was found nearby with minimal damage that was easy to repair.

This is the better of the two shots of a leopard cub that visited the CamTrap a week apart. Yesterday I found tracks of our big female leopard and one cub (Female about 7-8 months old) coming from the gorge between houses #24 and #25. In fact, Rob and I saw a young leopard on the road between the same houses on Saturday. The tracks headed into the gorge alongside house #9 so we should be getting sightings of Mom and Daughter around central for the next while.

This Serval visited a number of times over a period of a few nights. In this shot it is clearly entertained by the CamTrap. I love the way it lies like a domestic cat.

Just one of the many day-time shots to let you see the view from the CamTrap. According to the time stamp, the Eland on the right lay in the same position for more than two and a half hours, from when it was dark till the sun had risen.

Now for a selection of other CamTrap shots. This is a shot of a Warthog male rooting at K24.

A poor shot taken between K24 and K23 of, what appears to be a young female Leopard. Perhaps the previous daughter of our big girl.

This is the young but now big male Leopard that I just missed on the Miner's Hut path in one of my previous blogs. I call him Funny Boy because of his comical face, although it is not so comical anymore. In fact, I think he may just be taking the area over from our Big male. This was taken at K24.

The same male Leopard (Funny Boy) just over four months later also at K24. Definitelygetting bigger and meaner!

A lovely shot of a Large Spotted Genet with her baby taken at M14.

A Honey Badger taken between K23 and K24.

I don't know about anyone else but this sure looks like a Red Duiker to me. This was taken at K24.

And finally, a shot of a Civet that is expressly diurnal! She hangs around the central area and along the Whisky River. She is easy to identify with her scruffy hind quarters and very pretty face. We have no shots of her in the night time from the camtrap that was at W9, but many of her during the day! She is so commonly seen that Rob has christened her "Cedric the Psycho Civet"! 

Help has arrived!

HELP HAS ARRIVED

Well, after over a year of negotiations and persistence, the Working on Fire's High Altitude Team (HAT) has finally arrived! My little team and I are in the foreground of the photo and the HAT is in the rear.

The arrival of the team has had a very positive effect on the fight against alien plants at Finsbury. The HAT team has started where my team has left off in the Upper Majubaan and they have already cleared more than 40ha in that area.My team and I can now concentrate on areas that need urgent attention.

  

Newsletter March 2014

You can find the March 2014 newsletter here.