Long weekend of 18 - 22 March

The first long weekend of a bunch in March and April this year has come and gone. David and the team of labourers deserve a big pat on the back for managing to repair most of the water damage in time for this one.
Besides Saturday and Sunday, where we had 4mm rain and gusting winds, the weather was fair and fine. We were quite busy with a dozen houses occupied and keen fishermen dotting the river banks, and yes, the fishing was great according to all the anglers I spoke to.

Here's a little gallery of some of the pictures I took between Friday and now...

Finsbury Estate viewed from the base of Mount Prospect

K18 on the Kliprots. Among the weirs where Ralph Ririe caught seven trout in his first 90 minutes on the Estate

Marsh Tibouchinas proudly on display between the staff village and Whisky Cottage.

Introducing the new Managing couple, Don and Anne MacCrimmon (1st and 7th, seated, from the left respectively) during a sundowner at site 26 in South Valley.

A spider waits patiently in it's jewel laden web in the early morning.

How's the situation of these Marsh Pokers!

The rivers are flowing beautifully again after the good rains.

Fly fishing at the "shark tank", W3.

A Gladiolus varius showing off in the mountain grasslands!

This Scarlet River Lily, Hesperantha coccinea, is blooming rather late on the banks of the Steenkamps Stream.

A colourful caterpillar in the grasslands.

A weekend wouldn't be the same without a sighting of the majestic Eland!

The fishing was great this weekend.

Jissis! That is a spectacular bloom! Only the second time I am seeing the mind-numbingly beautiful Gladiolus elliottii.

The serine view of M2 with it's picturesque White Stinkwood, Celtis Africana.

This was only the first of three long weekends in the next six weeks so get yourselves here for Easter time. We look forward to you visiting and remember, I will be offering mountain walks everyday for those adventurous souls...

It keeps raining...

Further to Jimmy's recent posts on the rains, we thought members would be interested to see the Finsbury rainfall stats in something closer to real time than we have had in the past. We have captured the historic data for the last 7 seasons including this one, and have devised a system where Jimmy will keep a log of the daily rainfall. This then 'automatically' feeds through into some graphs which are on the new 'Rainfall data' tab at the top of your screen (as per the screen shot below).

Let us have any thoughts, feedback or suggestions in the comments section below, or via email.

Nick

A sea of Pokers!

The river levels have dropped again although they remain fast flowing. The roads have been repaired well enough for one to traverse the entire Estate. Most footpaths along the rivers are still under water and many footbridges have been washed away. So far, I have managed to locate 6 of them and these are far from where they originated! Believe me, they are extremely heavy but I'm sure all will be in order (barring no further floods!) for the long weekends in April. Of the annual total, so far, of 981mm, 336mm fell in the last three weeks since cyclone Dineo hit land.

Note: The top right thumbnail on this page gives all rainfall information until the day. I update it as it rains - thanks Nick Moore.

Saw a massive colony of more than 200 Common Marsh Pokers, Kniphofia linearifolia, today! Never seen so many in one place before. While I stood in among these striking flowers I had six Sunbirds fluttering around enjoying the nectar these flowers provide!

There is a smaller colony pretty close to the Kliprots road just south of the Solitude junction and another on the northern bank of the Shark Tank left of the crossing to the staff village.....

The striking inflorescence of the Kniphofia linearifolia, Common Marsh Poker

Hard to appreciate in a photograph but there are more than 200 individuals in this colony of Common Marsh Pokers just above K9. The Sunbirds where having a ball!

A smaller colony of Kniphofia linearifolia on the bank of the Shark Tank (W3). You can see "Elsmere" in the distance.

The flowers turn a soft yellow when the bracts open and the stamens extend. Sunbirds perch easily longitudinally on the robust stem and insert their long bills from the bottom to get to the nectar.

Update on the rain

Well, it is still raining here at the Estate and it doesn't really look like it is going to let up any time soon. It has been a soft, continuous rainfall (What I have always called "South Coast Rain") and we received only 57mm between my last post regarding Dineo and yesterday afternoon.

The rivers receded a bit since Dineo and remained at high but acceptable levels throughout the week. The roads were quite heavily damaged by the flooding last week and our team of workers have spent this week, in the rain, repairing them.

BUT

Last night we had a further 34mm of rain and I noticed, on my way to work this morning, that the Kliprots' water level has risen about 40cm since yesterday afternoon.

What is left of the wooden foot bridge just North of the hatchery on the Spekboom

The Spekboom behind the hatchery this morning

Beautiful Climbing Rock Rose, Sphedamnocarpus pruriens, found climbing up the cliff faces just below Mount Prospect yesterday afternoon.

The secretive Orchid, Dispersis anthoceros, growing in a colony all around my little cabin this very morning!

I will be here and will still be conducting guided hikes up in the highlands on Saturday and Sunday where we can explore.....

New Orchid species.

oh my goodness, I have to share my excitement:

I was just below the summit of Mount Anderson in January doing follow-up work on the Pines we destroyed up there when I encountered a beautiful orchid. I, as usual, took photos of it with my phone and reached for the excellent and fully comprehensive orchid book that Graeme (or is it Graham?). Naylor from unit 1 gave to me. Strangely, I could not find it in the book!

I sent a picture of it to Mervin Lotter today together with my plant list and got an immediate reply:

" Hi Jimmy

Do you know that you just missed out on discovering a new orchid species! The species you found on Mount Anderson (part of the reason for our visit last weekend), is Disa staerkeriana, named after Hurbert Staerker who discovered it about 3 years ago. It is not everyday that someone finds a new orchid. Do see http://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=2759-4014 "

This is another reason why I love my job! Anyway, here are some photos of this new and very rare (only known from about 30 individuals!) Orchid:

So long.......

DINEO was here.

We were certainly brushed by cyclone DINEO this weekend! Between Thursday and Friday we received around 130mm of rain which swelled the rivers to the point where they were unsafe to cross. The Abels from unit 2 wisely escaped the Estate at around 02h00 on Friday morning before the water levels rose too high. In fact, the staff were all trapped on the village side of the Spekboom river on Friday and were unable to get to work! The Benningtons and their guests were also hunkered down in unit 10 with nowhere to go as the waters dashed around their house and the Howards were very much trapped up in the Steenkamp's valley in unit 21.

 By Saturday, Whiskey 6 was traversable but still rather rough and the Benningtons were able to drive around a lot of the Estate. The Howards, though, were still trapped in the valley because the rock crossing at S3 was washed away. By late afternoon we managed to get them across the S3 crossing only because they were in an excellent off-road vehicle and Gary had faith in it.

The water's egress from the "Shark tank" with Spioenkop in the backround.

The crossing at Whiskey 6. I sure wasn't going to try cross it!

The crossing between K3 and K4. My vehicle was picked up and drifted a few meters when I crossed it. Phew!

K9 flowing strongly.

I could finally see the suspension bridge just North of Otter's rest only on Saturday afternoon when the water levels had dropped somewhat.

The access road between unit 24 and 25 was still a raging river even late on Saturday afternoon.

 Anyway, I am glad to say that it appears all the concrete infrastructure, including the hatchery, managed to withstand the massive amounts of water. Simon did say he lost a bunch of fingerlings but, after working through the night on Thursday and Friday, he said the loss was relatively minimal.

The roads, though, are a different story. The water levels have dropped to reveal massive damage to the roads and I am sure we will find a lot more damage as the levels drop further in the coming week!

We look forward to seeing a lot of visitors on the upcoming weekend! It sure is lush and green here!

The festive season is over

Well, the festive season is over. And festive it was! The rains finally arrived, just in time I might add, to transform the Estate into a lush, green wonderland. Granted, it did rain a lot during the festivities but their were plenty of sunny days in between where folks could get out and explore these beautiful mountains. The swollen, fast flowing rivers provided optimum fishing opportunities and the fishing was exceptional according to everyone I spoke to. I heard Richard Van Heerden caught a beauty toward the upper end of 2kg more recently!

Anyway, I thought I would just post a few photos regarding some of the wildlife that I have stumbled upon in the last week or so:

A Rain Spider, Palystes castaneus, on a rock during a gorge walk.

An as yet unidentified Seps. See the minute vestiges of the foreleg. Legless lizards flourish in the grasslands where legs would simply get in the way between the grass blades.

A new one for me, a Clicking Stream Frog, Strongylopus grayii, found along a high altitude mountain stream whilst camping out beneath Mount Anderson.

A Pink Ink Plant, Cycnium racemosaum, in the first rays of the morning sun right on the summit of Mount Anderson.

A Large-scaled Grass Lizard, Chamaesaurus macrolepis, showing off his body strength. This common lizard's rear legs are reduced to mere vestiges while the forelegs are non-existent.

The skull of a Jackal found high up in the grasslands.

A Horsefly resting on the flower of a Pineapple Plant, Eucomis montana

This Berg Adder, Bitis Atropos, of typical coloration, was the longest I have yet seen at over 50cm!

A spectacular Parrot Flower, Gladiolus dalennii, growing right outside the office in the central area

This female Amethyst Sunbird built her nest right outside my doorway up in Solitude Valley. Here she is approaching her nest with a tasty morsel for one of her two chicks.

A Brunsvigia radulosa on the summit of Mount Anderson at sunrise, 05h30.

Protea roupelliea in bloom throughout the Estate.

Well, all good times must come to an end and everyone is either back at work or school. Enjoy it and have a superb 2017! I look forward to seeing you here in the mountains...

Sundowners in South Valley

A sundowner in South Valley (old site number 26) is popular with all members because of it's beautiful sweeping views. One was pre-arranged on the 23rd December but the rain started coming down just before the event was to take place. This clearly didn't dissuade the folks as there was a good turn out. It certainly was worth it because the rain stopped and the sun emerged from behind the clouds and presented us with a beautiful rainbow. Check it out:

Jimmy's Blog 2016 Festive Season

The festive season is progressing nicely, with everybody is having lots of fun, although not necessarily fun in the sun. Up to and including today, 192mm of rain has fallen on the estate (measured at the central area) this month so far. There was, however, a cloud burst over Mount Anderson on the afternoon of Christmas eve which resulted in the Kliprots river swelling its banks and a flash flood in the Steenkamps system.

The Flooded Kliprots road between K13 and K11

K15 flowing nice and strongly

Unblocking the entrance to Rock Solid after a flash flood

The rain, mostly falling in the afternoons and evenings,has not dampened many members' sense of adventure and walks, hikes, cycle rides and excellent fishing is the order of the day.

Murray Beaumont on the cycle path en route to the Vlakte

A 14 km hike with the Nicholsons and the Mackenzies

A drink of fresh mountain water to rehydrate

The Beaumont's admiring a waterfall above the Steenkamps falls

The Moore's enjoying a gorge walk

Fraser Moore watching a herd of more than 65 Eland at the base of Mount Prospect

So yes, it's all happening at Finsbury Estate this festive season and we're only half way through....