Dargle Wildlife Sightings – June 2016

Jen Fly – Kildaragh Farm

All wildlife seems to be hibernating and as per usual, the Red-lipped Heralds are snugly coiled in the wood pile. We noticed 2 Common Reedbuck on our property – an unusual sighting these days! Good to see. They ran off onto Iain Sinclair’s farm.

Interesting birds have been seen in the garden: Green Wood Hoopoe, Wryneck, Oriole, Golden Tailed Woodpecker, Gurney’s Sugarbird, Malachite and Amethyst Sunbirds. A small flock of about 20 Helmeted Guineafowl scratch round in our pastures with numerous young. With the drought, it has been a good breeding season for them. We regularly see Black-winged Lapwings flying over on their food seeking missions.

In the veld we have noticed Natal Spurfowl, Cape Longclaw, and have heard the Common Quail with their gentle call.

An old Aloe arborescens, the Krantz aloe, that grows on one of our hill slopes is particularly beautiful this year. If you are frustrated with your garden in this season of drought, here’s what to plant!

Andrew Pridgeon – Copperleigh Farm

Spotted a Secretarybird whilst driving past Selsley farm. We also spotted one on Knowhere farm earlier in the month whilst moving some cattle.

Wendy de Waal – Honeywood Cottage

Pat McKrill, Snake Country: “I’d go with your i.d. Ashley – Spotted Skaapsteker – although it’s not that clear. There’s a slim possibility of it being a Short-snouted Sand snake (grass snake, whip snake – I wish they’d make their minds up!) but we’d need a better pic. Still some activity on the warmer days. Yay.”

Pat & Sandra Merrick – Albury Farm, Lidgetton

A very quiet month. At the beginning of June we saw the Black Sparrowhawks hunting and eating pigeons every couple of days. We saw the female at the old familiar nest in the gum trees. She was either adding more material to the nest or feeding young we thought. Well that’s the last we have seen of them, so no idea what happened. With the dry dam we have seen no waterbirds – the crane have disappeared. Only hear the Jackal occasionally.

Black-backed Jackal

We see the secretary bird and gymnogene now and then.

Secretarybird

The odd Common (Grey) Duiker seen during the day. We saw a very small Reedbuck on one of our walks. When I drove around the farm today I saw 4 Common Reedbuck sitting in the pine trees away from the wind. Two were young females and 2 were young rams.

Sunrise

There are still a number of sunbirds about, feeding off the aloes and proteas.

Malachite Sunbird (non-breeding male)

Malachite Sunbird

Greater Double-collared Sunbird

Amethyst Sunbird

In the past few weeks about a dozen Weavers arrive at about 9am and descend upon the aloes in front of the house.

They have been destructive in the defoliation of the aloes – they pull off a petal,

place it beneath a foot, and suck out the nectar and then drop them on the ground.

They are also feeding off the tecomas,

bottle brushes and pig ears.

I think they are the non-breeding Masked Weavers but am sure someone will be able to identify them for me? So we only see the sunbirds very briefly as they get chased away by the weavers which is rather sad.

Another surprise is that the Sparrows are collecting feathers and going into their nest under the eaves of the house.

Surely they are not thinking of breeding now? Perhaps they are just making it warmer!

Southern Boubou enjoying the sun – seldom seen on the lawn – they prefer to be hidden among the shrubs.

Southern Boubou

Well that’s all there is to report this month. It would be wonderful to get some rain or snow soon.

Nikki Brighton – Old Kilgobbin Farm

While I hear Spotted Eagle Owls and Wood Owls at night, I never come across the Barn Owls that moved into the owl box in the shed earlier this year. I do hope they have not eaten a poisoned rat. As last month, Jackal calls are still very scarce. Where are they? Very early one morning I met a big Porcupine while out walking and have come across lots of quills on various paths. I wonder, do they shed them more during Winter?

I found a Samango monkey skin and skeleton in the grassland,

and this dead Scrubhare beside the road.

Not a lot in flower, but these little yellow daisies are so cheerful! The hairy, maroon coloured stems should have made it easy to identify, but I can’t find it.

An unusually coloured Leonotis leonarus blooms beside the D707.

Grassland streams have stopped trickling altogether. Planted aloes are looking splendid.

David Schneiderman – Carlisle Farm

We went out on our farm Carlisle yesterday and we found 2 Waterbuck and 2 Reedbuck.

Ashley Crookes – Copperleigh Farm

The water is still receding in Mavela Dam. The ducks, geese and other wildlife are walking through the mud and making little trails.

A very cold frog I found in one of the water troughs – aren’t they supposed to be hibernating?!

Whilst doing our mandatory firebreaks with the neighbours, I quickly snapped a few pics of the aloes in the area

Some burnt aloes, I’m sure by next year they will be looking beautiful once again.

Fires in the Dargle with Inhlosane watching from a distance

We had a very cold weekend this past week, with bits of snow and sleet falling. Sunday morning we woke up to lots of ice on the edges of the dam, and beautiful little icicles forming and coming up through the mud.

Boston Wildlife Sightings – July 2014

Photo of a wintery Boston morning by Christeen Grant

Trevor and Cheryl Scheepers – Lapa Lapa
Two Glossy Starlings frozen to death after minus 9 in early morning; plenty of young Helmetted Guineafowl noticed; a Grey Long-tailed Mongoose hiding in a hole on Lapa Lapa.

Christeen Grant – Sitamani
July has been mixture of warm berg winds, a light dusting of snow followed by a hard frost that burnt off all the Greyia sutherlandii buds before they had really opened, misty days and some very chilly nights.

Light snow fell here on 7 July, very damp and cold, the temperature didn’t go above 2C for three days.

A Speckled Pigeon fluffed herself over the eggs she was brooding in the garage, glaring at me with a very beady eye. Her brood of two have hatched since and excited cheeps erupt whenever the parents are near.

Buddleja salviifolia scent fills the air, all the bushes are covered with blossom.

Bees fly busily around the inflorescences and I discovered a tiny greyish-green weevil with a black proboscis!

Halleria lucida are also flowering profusely, an army of ants march up the stems to the flowers.

Leucosidea sericea have just started flowering, still with yellow winter leaves below.

Seedheads of Agapanthus campanulatus sub. sp. patens

and a Dierama sp. blend with the mellow winter landscape.

In amongst dry branches a ‘flowering’ lichen displayed vivid orange spore.

Birds continue to be very vocal and enthusiastic around the garden, Cape White-eyes, Cape Robin-Chats, Southern Boubous, Black-backed Puffbacks, Cardinal Woodpeckers tapping dead wood in the Buddlejas, Long-crested Eagles, Jackal Buzzards and our perennial Cape Sparrow family, that now have a double story nest in the protective thorny lemon tree, to accommodate their growing numbers. Nearby is a large round Ant nest.

One early morning I watched a Black-backed Jackal pick it’s way over the burnt grass through the rocks.

A very dear little Climbing Mouse has taken up residence in the kitchen. The first sign it was around was a ‘litter’ of fine ostrich feather strands, from the feather duster, on the washing machine. Good nesting material. Then one morning there it was peeping at me as it balanced on the electric cord. Some mornings it sits in the spice rack as I make coffee. One day it was being very obvious, persistently making it’s self ‘be seen’, making tiny squeaks. Philip called from the other end of the house, “Come quickly, there’s a mouse in the bath. It can’t get out!”. We made a ladder of a towel, the Climbing Mouse hopped on and out of the bath, then we shepherded it out of the window. The mouse in the kitchen was still there when I returned, then disappeared after a beady stare.

Caroline McKerrow – Stormy Hill
Three Mountain Reedbuck, one male and two female, while out horse riding on Mount Shannon.

Bruce and Bev Astrup – Highland Glen
Black-headed Heron in wetland near Elands river. Black-backed Jackal, closest to the house they have ever been

Barbara and David Clulow, visiting Boston:
Cape Crow, Sacred Ibis, Egyptian Geese, Spur-wing Geese, Red-knobbed Coot, African Shelduck.

Pete and Frances Nel – Four Gates
Two Southern Ground Hornbill, A pair of Blue Cranes

Des and Noreen Muller – Fairview
Numbers of Bald ibis in the old mealie felds on Netherby

Crystelle Wilson- Gramarye

In early July David and Barbara Clulow and I visited Tillietudlem Game and Trout Lodge to do a winter birding list for the SABAP2 atlas project. The pentad joins my home pentad at Boston on the western side. As expected in winter, birding was slow, but we were pleased to see a Secretarybird which staff member Wesley Dragt told us about. He said he hadn’t seen any nests, but that same evening he phoned to tell me he had found a nest with two birds in attendance, which is very good news.

We also enjoyed watching a pair of African Fish-Eagles flying against a hillside near the dam.We managed a list of 45 in about four hours of birding. At Boston I got 71 for my home pentad over a couple of days, one of which included freezing cold weather with snow dusting the hilltops while I photographed a Malachite Kingfisher

and a Reed Cormorant at the Elandshoek dam.

Tillietudlem Pentad 2935_2955: African Stonechat, Le Vaillant’s Cisticola, Speckled Mousebird, Amethyst Sunbird, Cape Crow, Dark-capped Bulbul, Village Weaver, Red-eyed Dove, Cape Turtle-Dove, Common Fiscal, Cape Wagtail, Speckled Pigeon, Drakensberg Prinia, Buff-streaked Chat, Jackal Buzzard, South African Shelduck, Bokmakierie, African Pipit, Cape Longclaw, Little Grebe, African Fish-Eagle,

Southern Boubou, Egyptian Goose, Black-headed Oriole, Cape Batis, Cape White-eye, Secretarybird, Fork-tailed Drongo, Red-throated Wryneck, African Firefinch,

Cape Canary, Rock Martin, Cape Rock-Thrush, Yellow-fronted Canary, Common Waxbill, Spur-winged Goose, Grey Crowned Crane, Brown-throated Martin, Hadeda Ibis, Yellow-billed Duck, Cape Robin-Chat, Pied Starling, Yellow Bishop, Southern Red Bishop, Fan-tailed Widowbird.

The SABAP2 list for Elandshoek pentad 2935_3000: Speckled Pigeon, Malachite Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, White-breasted Cormorant, African Firefinch, Reed Cormorant, Common Moorhen, Pied Crow, Yellow-fronted Canary, Cape Canary, Buff-streaked Chat, Green Wood-Hoopoe, African Harrier-Hawk,

Southern Grey-headed Sparrow, African Hoopoe, Spur-winged Goose, Black Sparrowhawk, Pin-tailed Whydah, Black-winged Lapwing, African Sacred Ibis, Spotted Eagle-Owl, Cape Glossy Starling, Fan-tailed Widowbird, Common Waxbill, Long-crested  Eagle, African Dusky Flycatcher, Brown-throated Martin, Jackal Buzzard,

Bar-throated Apalis, Southern Double-collared Sunbird, Drakensberg Prinia, Speckled Mousebird, African Olive-Pigeon, Hamerkop, Cape Weaver, Red-winged Starling, Dark-capped Bulbul, Levaillant’s Cisticola, Three-banded  Plover, Blacksmith Lapwing, Village Weaver, House Sparrow, Amethyst  Sunbird,   Cape Sparrow,  Cape  Robin-Chat, Olive Thrush, Cape White-eye,  Bokmakierie,  Red-necked Spurfowl,  African Rail, Red-knobbed Coot,  Little Grebe, Cape Longclaw,

Red-capped Lark, African Pipit,  Cape  Wagtail,    Helmeted Guineafowl, South African Shelduck, African Stonechat, Southern Red Bishop, Red-billed Quelea, Cape Crow, Southern Boubou, Fork-tailed Drongo, Black-headed Oriole, Egyptian Goose, Grey Crowned Crane, Common Fiscal, Red-eyed Dove, Cape Turtle-Dove, Hadeda.

 

Dargle Wildlife Sightings – June 2014

Simon Hayes – Hambledon

A fish eagle has been visiting our dam lately, trying rather unsuccessfully to catch a fish.

Maybe the otter in the dam puts him off!

Sandra and Pat Merrick – Albury

We have had sleepless nights this past month with our 3 barn owlets learning to fly.

They have been flying onto our verandah, onto our window sills, causing the alarm to go off as much as 5 times a night. After the alarm went off one night and we saw the owl on the window sill, we also saw a natal red rock rabbit in the garden hopping around. Just may be the one that lived in my formal garden for 4 months as a baby and vanished in March. Things have quietened down this past week, so it looks like the owlets are now hunting on their own. There is still an adult barn owl in the chimney which the other 2 adults keep chasing.

The hamerkop came into the garden again on an overcast day.

We have dozens of sunbirds and most of them have lost their summer colours, so have found it difficult to identify. Greater collared sunbird

Female malachite sunbird

Also many common stonechats and buff streaked chats.  Common Stonechat

Some Female African Stonechats (saxicola torquatus) – Thanks to Hugh Bulcock for identifying them as well as the Yellow-throated Petronia.

Hundreds of seed eaters on the lawn every day. Up to 16 sacred ibis on dam every day and the odd spoonbill. Gurney sugarbird

At the beginning of june our 2 adult blue crane arrived at the dam one afternoon and mournfully cried for about ten minutes and then flew off. A few hours later one blue crane arrived and he too also gave a few mournful cries and flew off. I can only guess that mom and dad were saying a sad farewell to their baby as I have not seen them since. I miss them but they will be back next season, I am sure. Cape White-eye

A redthroated wryneck living in corner post in our garden. A pair of shelduck, egyptian geese, spurwing geese, plovers. Black crested eagle, jackal buzzard. Heard the cry of the fish eagle several times during the month. Cape Robin

a Secretary Bird arrived at last for a short while and then flew off

Yellow-throated Petronia (gymnoris superciliaris)

Malachite sunbird in eclipse

Black sunbird – with its tongue out!

Common duiker

One morning saw a Natal red duiker standing in the middle of the road just past Endebeni farm. I stopped the car, went for my camera but it ran back into the bush. I have never seen one here before but I checked out the website and it was definitely a red duiker. Dark auburn in colour, small head and smaller in size than the common duiker.

Lots of reedbuck on the hills and in the long grass around the house. The males have been chasing a female for a couple of weeks now. They came to blows one morning. Walked towards each other, face to face, eyeball to eyeball and then the fight began. Locked horns, pushing backwards and forwards.

One of them went down and I wondered what would happen next but he got up, they looked at each other and calmly walked off.

We had fun with the trail camera. Captured as many as 100 photos in 2 nights with the trail camera we hired for the month (from the Dargle Conservancy). Well worth the R100. Pat changed the camera position about every 5 days.  Some very interesting photos of the owls with the owlets practising their jumping and flapping skills before learning to fly. They have been flying for the last 2 weeks.

We also saw many jackal in the bush. One running up the burn at 7am one morning.

male bush buck,

porcupine

and lastly a beautiful caracal which is very special.

Many male and female reedbuck on our road to the house. Strangely no images of bush pig or female bush buck were captured.

Robin Barnsley – Sanctuary

Saw a Genet up the tree late one night when I arrived home. Also saw the one-horned Bushbuck that attacked Jenny Fly a few months ago.

Ashley Crookes – Copperleigh Farm

Have seen the Vervet Monkey’s on the corner of our farm near Barret’s Country house on quite a few occasions. This morning I saw a Reedbuck take off up the hill when putting out salt lick for our cows.

Dieter Setz – Wakecroft

At present this is the only colour, even with frost on it, along the riverbed

Bugweed (Solanum mauritianum) or what is left of it after strong frost

Don’t know the name of this weed. It flowers, seeds and is frost resistant (all in one) and no animal eats it. Can anybody out there shed some light on it?

Here is the most hated flower by hikers and people walking in the veld – Blackjacks!

These tiny little flowers are flowering now and have a very pleasant sweet scent

Strawflowers are hanging in as well

The frost got hold of these wild melons as well.

Images from the Trail Camera:  a Small Antelope

Eland

Aardvark

Porcupine and Jackal

Common Male Duiker

Nikki Brighton

I spent most of the month beside the seaside, so have nothing interesting to report for Dargle. If you are interested, you can see what I saw at the beach here: https://plantabundance.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/east-coast-abundance-figs-flowers-and-footprints/

Keep an eye on the Dargle Facebook page for local news. Video footage of the Barn Owls captured at the Merrick’s property will be posted soon. https://www.facebook.com/dargle.kzn

 

Tracks and Scats

‘We will follow the animals’ read the invitation to the Dargle Conservancy’s Track and Scat ID workshop held recently. This is exactly what we did, although we didn’t have to venture far from the farm tracks to see all sorts of interesting things. “Well, the animals like a road to walk along too” laughed Hayley van Leylyveld, who led the excursion along with her husband, Neville.

We learnt so many fascinating facts from the couple who spend one weekend a month observing wild animals in Dargle. They have been witness to some remarkable things – like a duiker giving birth right in front of them. If you are respectful and quiet and wear camouflage colours, reckons Neville, you’ll be amazed at how close you can get.

First find was Reedbuck droppings and prints. Apparently Reedbuck mate for life. Unlike Bushbuck, who are solitary and have different partners, whom they meet by chance.

The scat of the bushbuck was quite different to reedbuck (below) – compressed rather than pellets.

Neville told us “If one comes across a bush buck male, it is best to treat him with great respect as they are known to be very aggressive. They are the only antelope that have been known to attack rather than flee from danger. It is best not to do anything that they might conceive as a threat such as sudden movement, shouting or approaching them without regard to the safe zone they have around them. For example when he is feeding and he raises his head and looks at you, you are too close and you are presenting a threat to him. In such a situation it is best not to make eye to eye contact with him but rather keep a wary eye on him and move backwards until he starts feeding again and them make your way out of his domain into safety. They can very easily kill a human. It is always best to remember that you are invading their home and therefore you must always give the wildlife the respect that they deserve. Bush buck are particularly dangerous when wounded.”

Another fascinating fact is that Bushbuck are dependent on monkeys as they can only reach the fruit on trees to a certain height.  It is the task of the monkeys to drop the fruit that is out of their reach which then falls to the ground for them to eat.  So killing all the monkeys in an area will negatively affect the bush buck population.

We came across quite a few ‘nests’ in the long grass where animals had been lying – this one was just perfect for Kei to curl up in out of the cold.

There was plenty of duiker activity including a few carrots on the edges of the fields that had been nibbled. “I often get farmers bemoaning the fact that they lose so much of their crop to wildlife but in reality it is seldom much.”

Unless a sounder of bush pigs discover your mielie field, that is. Neville told us that bush pig don’t like the smell of cabbages so an easy (eco-friendly) deterrent is to plant rows of cabbages all around your fields.

Neville adds: “Bush pigs, although mainly nocturnal, must be treated with great respect. They are powerful and aggressive creatures, particularly the boars when they have piglets around them.  They are the sounder protectors. A bush pig can very easily kill a human and is regarded by those in the know as dangerous game. It is always good policy to avoid known bush pig areas at night. They are masters of stealth and can suddenly appear without any warning. This is one reason why being able to identify animal track and scat is so important as it can often save you from a dangerous encounter with wildlife. It makes you much more aware of what potentially is in which area.”

We could see areas where bush pigs had made messy paths through the reeds.

We learnt how to tell how big the animal is from the distance between the back and front prints, ie the length of the animals stride in relation to his size.

How to judge how fresh the print was and in which direction the animal was moving.

We saw evidence of jackal including one obviously following closely behind a duiker. “Jackals always tend to follow the pregnant doe’s when they are due to give birth. Somehow they know when the duiker doe is due.” Neville told us. This is something that they have observed over a long period of time during their work on this farm. Sifting through the jackal scats, we could see exactly what they had been eating – mostly scrub hares, with no evidence at all of lambs or calves of which they are so often accused of eating.

We learnt that the indiscriminate shooting of Jackals in large numbers actually does not work as a method to protect livestock.  In fact it can actually make the problem worse, as Jackals will merely increase their breeding to fill in the missing animals. This is done by the pack leader male breeding with the ‘reserve’ females that normally he would not breed with. In such cases it has been known for Jackal females that are not pregnant to bring in milk and to help feed the newborn litter so that instead of only some of the pups surviving they will all survive!  It is normal for only four out of a litter of six to survive under usual circumstances. As in all natural ecosystems only the strongest survive, however when their numbers are threatened they ensure their own survival by increasing the survival rate of the pups.

Neville: “A well-documented way of controlling Jackals is to shoot only the communicator – that is the one who finds the food source. By doing so the communication link is broken back to the rest of the pack. This also prevents the attempted wiping out of the Jackals as only one individual been destroyed rather than trying destroy them all. This is a much more conservation minded method, and  more effective than just indiscriminate slaughter.  In actual fact,  Jackals are scavengers who clean up bush rather than hunters of domestic stock. On this farm they are currently only feeding on vlei rats and scrub hare which form part of their normal diet. This can clearly be seen from the scat they leave behind. Looking at old scat as well as fresh scat gives you an indication of what the jackals have been eating over a long period.”

Jackal activity is greatest during the first quarter of the moon. There is little about on full moon nights as it is too bright making it difficult for predators to stay out of sight. The wind also has a major effect on wildlife. If the wind is below about 3km/hr the prey animals battle to pick up the scent of the predators and if the wind is too strong, say over 10km/hr the prey animals once again battle hear and smell the predators. The lack of prey animals therefore also affects the presence of the predators. They all lie low until the weather conditions become more favourable. This has been noticed every time by Neville and Hayley when they are out in the Dargle area on their monthly visits.

It was fun to find that porcupine had been around the evening before. Their scat revealing the very varied diets they have – seeds and crabs and all sorts of things. Porcupine feed on a very similar diet to that of Bush pigs,  including carrion, vegetable, rhizomes and tubers – basically almost anything that they can find.Their only defence mechanism is their quills which they will ram into whatever tries to attack them. They always go into their hole forward so that they cannot be removed easily. We were amazed to learn that porcupine can weigh up to 24 kgs!

We spotted quite a few caracal tracks. Once again Neville was a mine of interesting information.  Caracal can kill animals of Reedbuck size easily. After they have made the kill they will only eat about 1kg of meat from the rump and the rest of the carcass is left. Sometimes they will drag it into cover, but rarely come back to feed on it the next night. Feeding on an old kill is normally only done when food is very scarce. Jackals are normally found on these kills doing what they do best as scavengers. Often they are spotted at the old kill and are wrongly accused for being response able for the kill. Caracal is strictly nocturnal and lives in a wide variety of habitats, except desert type regions. They prefer open plains and areas around vleis. They can sometimes be seen just before day break or shortly after dark. Although a good tree climber, Caracal mainly hunts on the ground. It has the ability to hide its self very well whilst resting during the day and if startled it can become very aggressive and very dangerous as it will instantly go into defence mode. Its natural reaction will be to protect its self, so they are not to be under estimated. Common prey animals are duiker, steenbok, grysbok, bushbuck does, sheep lambs, dassies, monkeys, spring hares, guinea fowl, francolin and other ground living birds. Caracal are not dependent on water.

Its tracks are absent of claw marks if walking. When it is running or walking on soft or slippery ground such as mud the claw marks are visible as its claws are retractable as are most cats.

The edges of the farmland were seriously transformed with invasive alien plants lining the river banks. The indigenous pioneer Senecio madagascariensis took advantage of the disturbed earth creating a pretty picture with Oriah in the middle.

Some brave Kniphofias and Hebenstretia were flowering in the mess of invasives.

On our way back through the wetland area we came across mongoose prints, clearly made since we had passed earlier.

Although we didn’t see any animals, there are likely plenty just lying low while the humans potter about noisily.

The next Track and Scat workshop takes place on 14 June in Dargle. Once again a donation of R20 for the SA CAN Anti-Poaching programme will be requested.

A night walk planned is around the 6th or 13th September depending on animal numbers. Call Neville to book your spot – 0829737052. Neville and Hayley are also available to conduct wildlife surveys on your property, chat to them about rates if you are interested. valleyview@telkomsa.net

A sincere thank you to the landowner Iain Sinclair for allowing us to use his farm. Photos by Nicole Schafer and Nikki Brighton

Boston Wildlife Sightings December 2013

Crystelle Wilson – Gramarye

Cape Longclaw

On early morning walks at The Drift farm I came across a water mongoose

and a black-backed jackal

 while in the wetland on Gramarye which was burnt late winter it was gratifying to meet a crab

and seeing the vegetation flourishing, including a beautiful gladiolus flower.

Bird sighting of the month was Black Harrier, the first time I’ve ever seen one of these in the district. The bird is endemic to Southern Africa and has the most restricted range of the 13 harrier species worldwide. It hunts over dry and damp grasslands, fynbos and karoo and its breeding stronghold is in the south western parts of the country.  Another new listing for the Elandshoek pentad was Southern Pochard, only the second time I’ve seen the duck in the area, as was the pair of European Rollers which I saw for the second time after several years in the same spot near the Good Hope dams.

Black-crowned Tchagra and Golden-breasted Bunting were also new additions to that pentad. The list for the Elandshoek pentad 2935_3000: Diederik Cuckoo, Pin-tailed Whydah, Cape Sparrow, Southern Greyheaded Sparrow, Dark-capped Bulbul, Cape White-eye, Amethyst Sunbird, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Greater Striped-Swallow, Cape Turtle Dove, Red-eyed Dove, African Firefinch, Hadeda Ibis, Southern Boubou, Cape Robin-Chat, African Harrier-Hawk, Black Saw-wing, African Hoopoe, Yellow-billed Kite, Spur-winged Goose,

Cape Canary, Le Vaillant’s Cisticola, Fan-tailed Widowbird, African Stonechat, Little Rush-Warbler, Fork-tailed Drongo, Drakensberg Prinia, Egyptian Goose, Yellow-billed Duck, Cattle Egret, Helmeted Guineafowl, Common Waxbill, African Reed-Warbler, Red-collared Widowbird,

Cape Wagtail, Brown-throated Martin, Common Fiscal, Cape Crow, Red-necked Spurfowl, Cape Grassbird, Dusky Indigobird, Zitting Cisticola, Speckled Pigeon, Southern Red Bishop,

Cape Weaver, Village Weaver, African Rail, Cape Longclaw, Bokmakierie, Red-billed Quelea, African Darter, Red-knobbed Coot, Little Grebe, White-breasted Cormorant, African Pipit, Malachite Kingfisher, Giant Kingfisher, Grey Crowned Crane, White-faced Duck, Black-headed Heron, Blue Crane, White-throated Swallow, Barn Swallow, Pied Starling, Black Sparrowhawk, House Sparrow, Amur Falcon, Steppe Buzzard, Wing-snapping Cisticola, Jackal Buzzard, Sombre Greenbul, Blacksmith Lapwing, Banded Martin, Wailing Cisticola, Hamerkop, Red-chested Cuckoo, Yellow Bishop, Long-tailed Widowbird, Bar-throated Apalis, Black-backed Puffback, Southern Double-collared Sunbird, African Emerald Cuckoo, Forest Canary, Alpine Swift, Burchell’s Coucal, Olive Thrush, Black-headed Oriole, Long-crested Eagle, Red-throated Wryneck, Common Moorhen, Red-chested Flufftail.

Trevor and Cheryl Scheepers of Lapa Lapa: Four Buff-spotted Flufftail chicks in the garden

Bruce and Bev Astrup of Highland Glen: Watched Crested Barbet shinning up tree in garden; Burchell’s Coucal; Red-shouldered Widowbird; Red-chested Cuckoo (Piet-my-Vrou), calling. Saw the pair of Spotted Eagle-Owls in the evening in Basket Willows alongside the Elands river, and further sightings of  the Crested Barbet – appear to be nesting in the Weeping Willow along with Fork-tailed Drongos, Darkcapped Bulbuls, Village Weavers, Long-crested Eagle; Elands river over its banks last night, 22^nd Dec, and a couple of Village Weavers nests are upmarket with running water.

Christeen Grant – Sitamamani

December has continued to be wet, many afternoon thunderstorms, fortunately only small hail a few times. Many fungi have sprung up including Earth Stars

and Amanita pantherina.

They quickly shrivel and fade when the sun comes out again.

For the first time I found a large patch of Clubmoss, Lycopodium clavatum on a moist slope.

A few interesting invertabrates have been around, a Harvestmen, Order Opilones was sitting near the kitchen door.

A Lunate Blister Beetle, Decapotoma lunata was seen on a Hypoxis 

and an unusual moth of the Goat Moths, family Cossidae settled for the day on the backstep.

In amongst the grasses, very cleverly camouflaged was a Green lynx spider a Oxyopidae Peucetia sp.

There are a multitude of jewel like flowers scattered over the hillside: Agapanthus caulescens,

Anthericum cooperi,

Aspidonepsis diploglossa,

Convoluvus natalensis,

Cyanotis speciosa (particularly prolific this year),

Dipcadi viride (and amongst the brown coloured ones a green one which echoes it’s given name),

a first for me Drimia spaerocephala,

Eriosema distinctum,

Eucomis autumnalis,

Gladiolus ecklonii,

Hibiscus aethiopicus,

Hypericum lalandii,

Moraea brevistyla,

Nemesia caerulea,

Ornithogalum graminifolium,

Pachycarpus dealbatus,

Papaver aculeatum,

Rubus ludwigii

and Zantedeschia albomaculata were some of them flowering during the month.

On a walk over Mondi’s Mt Shannon, in and near a rather murky pool of water, we saw a Common Platanna Xenopus laevis, a Common River Frog  Afrana angloensis

and a Swamp Bluet Africallagma glaucum.

CREW fieldtrip on Edgeware on 13 December, searching for Schizoglossum bidens and ‘new’ Moraea, last seen on 28 December 2012. The very late rains had arrived too late to bring out the hoped-for plants, so the few CREW and helpers, who were available to make the climb up the hillside were disappointed and when eventually the rains did show that they meant business, it was helter-skelter to a waiting car driven by a kindly rescuer,  Celia Speirs, who came to assist Suvarna Parbhoo, Christina Potgieter, Barbara Clulow and others, who were somewhat wet through. A few flowers were recorded, which compared to the usual masses at this time of the year, was a slight compensation.   The lists up until then were of 155 species on Edgeware and this outing added another 7 new species – photos by Barbara Clulow  – including Asclepias cucullata

Cycnium racemosum for first time on Edgeware

Tephrosia macropoda

Pelargonium alchemilloides

Not the first time, but a lovely Asclepias albens

The hard cover book of the 100 most highly threatened South African plant species, “Plants in Peril”, has been published.  Boston CREW is represented therein with Barbara Clulow, Christeen Grant and David Clulow at Impendle Nature Reserve, where the rare plant, Asclepias concinna, was found earlier. This impressive book is available from Suvarna Parbhoo at 082 354 5649. An extract:  Asclepias concinna

Gomphocarpus photographed by Crystelle Wilson of Gramarye on the edge of the Norwood forests. The one seen before in the area is a physocarpus and is described in Elsa Pooley’s “Wildflowers of KZN” as being white flowers, which is the case; so this is an interesting variation – Darwin would have been intrigued.

Jackal Pups

FreeMe are raising some Jackal pups, and while they are thoroughly enjoying the experience, they realise that jackals are not everyone favourite animal.

Ros Marais of FreeMe coments:  “A concerned farmer asked that they not be released anywhere near his property as he believes that they kill calves in a very unpleasant way.  This is a very legitimate request.”  This is the Free Me response to farmers and others who are concerned about their decision to rehabilitate jackals:

As a rule we do not rehabilitate jackals at all, because of the problem of finding a suitable release site.  At the moment though we have had a request from a new reserve up near Phinda in Northern Zululand.  They were previously surrounded by squatter camps and their jackal population was wiped out by distemper picked up from the local dogs.  They are finding it very difficult to balance their reserve without jackals and the distemper virus stays in the soil for up to four years.  Because we can inoculate for distemper with a 100% success rate, our jackals will be able to survive, breed and build up a viable population.  All our releases are approved by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and they would certainly never approve jackal releases in a farming area.

Similarly, we are also very careful about the release of mongoose, genet, serval and all other predator sites.   We will occasionally release antelope or birds in the Midlands, but nothing else.  We do not release into Umgeni Valley Nature Reserve because of the poaching problem.

One of the FreeMe Jackal pups-

Recently, Neville van Lelyveld who regularly counts wildlife on a Dargle farm observed the following:  No Jackals were seen with very little calling activity on Saturday night. A very interesting observation is that we have seen this before on a full moon evening, but only when there is little or no wind. When this is taken together with the very few sightings of antelope during the night, there appears to be a pattern or natural defence strategy between the prey animals and predators during full moons whereby if there is little or no wind their sense or ability to use sent as a form of defence in the case of the prey animals and form of hunting strategy for the predators is impaired and therefore there is less activity on both sides. This is a dynamic that we want to look into in the coming months.  Although this was not a directly full moon weekend as the full moon was on the following Wednesday it was still fairly bright. These sorts of patterns are something that needs more investigation and understanding. There are however a lot of jackal tracks and scat to be seen all over the farm. It was interesting to observe that their main diet consisted of scrub hare’s and field mice based on the scat analysis done. On the odd occasion a dove feather can be found in their scat. This goes to prove that they are being sustained by their natural food supply. Based on the amount of scat there appear to be several jackals on the farm. A single jackal foetus was found on the road down to the Umgeni River, this is normally a sign of stress. It also supports that fact they are breeding. There were however not many new fresh tracks or scat found on Sunday morning which tends to support  the theory mentioned previously. 

An extract from D.T. Rowe-Rowe’s paper on WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT – BLACKBACKED JACKAL for KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service

The black-backed jackal, Canis mesomelas, is one of South Africa’s most controversial carnivores.  The mere mention of its name is enough to throw many a sheep farmer into a fit of rage because of the reputation this jackal has gained as a killer of sheep. On the other hand, a grain farmer may not share the sheep farmer’s aversion, as he values any animal that preys on rodents.

Size and development:  Adult jackals weigh between 6 and 11 Kg, with 8Kg being the average in most parts of Southern Africa. By the age of 6 months, young jackals have acquired all of their permanent teeth, and by the age of 12 months, they have almost reached full adult size.

Ecology
Black-backed jackals are distributed throughout South Africa, occurring in our deserts as well as in the high-rainfall grasslands, and from sea level to the summit of the Drakensberg. The jackal’s high degree of habitat tolerance and adaptability is well illustrated by the diet that differs from one region to the next.
In the most arid parts of the country jackals eat a high proportion of insects, whereas in high rainfall grassland regions, rodents form bulk of the diet. Wherever large amounts of carrion are available the jackal resorts to this food source, and takes advantage of opportunities, when they occur, to overpower and kill conveniently sized mammals such as hares, newborn antelope, or sheep (mostly lambs). So adaptable is the jackal that it will even feed on fallen fruit.

From a study done in a grassland region, of the Drakensberg, it has been estimated that in that particular area each jackal is capable of consuming approximately 1500 field mice or 500 vlei rats per year.

Habits
Until a few years ago little was known about the jackal other than details of its diet and that it caused problems in some sheep-farming areas. Radio telemetry, however, has made it possible to find out a great deal about the private life of an animal, which although widespread, is wary and secretive.

Black-backed jackals are predominantly nocturnal. Where they are not hunted, their activity starts just before sundown and reaches a peak shortly after dark. A second activity peak occurs shortly before sunrise. Jackals generally spend the daylight hours dozing and sleeping. In hot weather they lie in the shade, but when it is fine and cool, they lie in the sun. They very seldom lie in holes during the day.

Pair bonds are formed by jackals which are usually three years of age or older. Once mated, the pair remains together until one of the partner’s dies. When one partner dies the remaining individual wanders over a large area outside its territory, looking for a new mate. Most jackals’ pups are born during late winter or early spring, which is probably because this is the time of year when most carrion is available.

Initially the female suckles the pups, but they start to feed on solids at an early age and the adults then regurgitate food for them. Both parents feed and care for the young.

During the first 14 weeks of their lives, the pups remain in or around the natal den, which is usually a hole in the ground, then begin to forage with the parents. Although the average litter numbers five (litters of 2 to 8 have been recorded), it is seldom that more than one or two pups survive beyond the age of fourteen weeks. The number of surviving pups is largely dependent on the amount of food that can be provided during the early stages of their lives.

Mated pairs are territorial with both males and females defending the territory: males defending it against other mated males, and mated females defending it against mated females. When a young jackal reaches the age of a year it may remain within the parent pair’s territory and help them to feed and protect the next litter, or it may become a solitary wandering animal.

One of the primary factors that govern territory size, home range size, and jackal density is the amount of food. In the course of research done on jackals in Giants Castle Game Reserve in the Drakensberg of KwaZulu-Natal, it was found that the average size of mated pairs’ territory was 1900 ha. Immature jackals which were less than a year old, occupied ranges of about 900 ha within those of the mated pair, and the average home range size of a solitary non-breeding jackals was 3300 ha.
But what do these figures mean in terms of the total density of jackals?
It was estimated that in Giant’s Castle Game Reserve there is approximately one jackal pr 250 to 290 ha. The only other known density figure is reported from the Serengeti in Tanzania, where it was estimated that black-backed jackals occur at a density of one per 200 ha. Information from a study done in the Western Transvaal indicates that densities on farmland are lower. Sometimes jackals gather at large carcasses in numbers, which might create the impression that densities are higher. Such aggregations include jackals from more than one territory.

There are thus four components in black-baked jackal social groups: the progeny of the year; helpers which improve pup survival; and solitary non-breeding, non-territorial animals (some of which may previously have served as helpers). Solitary adults probably act as a reserve breeding population. The time at which they bear young will depend on the availability of food and territory. Apparently, very few black-baked jackals live longer than six or seven years. If jackals enter the breeding population at approximately three years of age, then by the time that a pair is six years old, their first progeny will be of breeding age.

The knowledge gained from the study of the social organisation of the jackal leads to a better understanding of this predator. As is the case with many other carnivores, the black-baked jackal is at the end of a food chain. So, although widespread and common in many areas, food is the limiting factor. The social system, which has evolved in jackals, ensures that there is sufficient food to go round and that the species continues to exist.

Boston Wildlife Sightings for July

Christeen Grant -Sitamani

July has been an insect month, not many flowers out, although the Aloe maculata grace the hillside, the Halleria lucida, Buddleja salviifolia and Greyia sutherlandii are focal points attracting many insects and birds.

The small Rosemary bush in my herb bed is also covered in flowers, easy to photograph some of these insects, Bees,

a variety of Hover Flies,

a delightful miniature Leaf Beetle (only about 5mm),

and a pair of small brown butterflies that Steve Woodhall identified as possibly being male and female Common Hottentots.

Also seen on another day, a first for me, a Twig Wilter.

Three Common Reedbuck have decided our hillside is a refuge this winter, two females and a male, often seen at dusk and dawn, close to the house. Duiker are active around the same time each day.

An unusual bird sighting for us was a Hammerkop near the house and one early morning a Marsh Owl. A pair of Black-shouldered Kites, Jackal Buzzards and Long-crested Eagles are frequent overhead visitors. The bushes are alive with Cape White-eyes, Dark-capped Bulbuls, Speckled Mousebirds, Fork-tailed Drongos, Black-headed Orioles, Black-backed Puffbacks and Bronze Mannikins.

David and Wizz Lawrence on The Willows:

Cape Robin_Chat; Red-billed Quelea; Village Weavers galore, some getting summer golden colour; Boubou Shrike; Common Fiscal; Cape Turtle-Dove; Glossy Starling; Cape Sparrow; Speckled Mousebird; Drakensberg Prinia; House Sparrow; Hadedah Ibis; Helmeted Guineafowl; juvenile Jackal Buzzard often around, and maturing, getting a russet front.

David Clulow on The Willows:

Four Grey Crowned Crane seen at Endeavour farm – parents and two grown up juveniles, feeding about 50 metres from farmhouse; pair of Wattled Cranes seen in stubble maize about 300 metres from farmhouse. Geese at the Elands river, flying over wintry Basket Willows:

Common Fiscal on winter’s morning

Bridge over Elands river from “Endeavour” to the north

Crystelle Wilson – Graymarye

I never expected to come across Grey Crowned Cranes in prison, but this was an unexpected sighting at Sevontein Prison near Elandskop in July. I was atlasing the pentad 2940_3005 and driving on the land surrounding the prison when I spotted four cranes in the cabbage patch alongside the stream running next to the buildings. Three hours of birding yielded only 37 species, in part due to the increasing human settlements in the area.

The list for the Elandshoek pentad 2935_3000 is: Village Weaver, Pin-tailed Whydah, African Firefinch, Red-eyed Dove, Cape Turtle Dove, Speckled Pigeon, Drakensberg Prinia (below),

Fork-tailed Drongo, Hadeda Ibis, Common Fiscal, African Sacred Ibis, Helmeted Guineafowl, Cape White-eye, African Stonechat, Egyptian Goose, Yellow-fronted Canary, Green Wood-hoopoe, Cape Crow, Black-headed Heron, Red-billed Quelea, Cape Wagtail, House Sparrow, Southern Red Bishop, Denham’s Bustard, Lanner Falcon, Yellow-billed Duck, Le Vaillant’s Cisticola, Dark-capped Bulbul, Little Grebe (below),

Cape Grassbird, Speckled Mousebird, Cape Parrot, Red-winged Starling, Bar-throated Apalis, Southern Double-collared Sunbird, Cape Batis, African Hoopoe, Jackal Buzzard, Fan-tailed Widowbird, Sombre Greenbul, Amethyst Sunbird, Cape Robin-Chat, Bokmakierie, Brown-throated Martin, Olive Thrush, Southern Boubou, Red-necked Spurfowl, African Rail, Common Waxbill, Long-crested Eagle, Grey Crowned Crane, Giant Kingfisher, Spur-winged Goose, African Pipit, Reed Cormorant, White-breasted Cormorant, African Darter, Cape Longclaw, Red-knobbed Coot, Blue Crane, Black Sparrowhawk, Red-collared Widowbird, Rufous-naped Lark, South African Shelduck, Red-chested Flufftail, Blacksmith Lapwing, Hamerkop, Cape Sparrow, Southern Greyheaded Sparrow.

Other sightings include reedbuck

and a jackal, not the farmers’ favourite.

Dargle Wildlife Sightings for July

Nigel Anderson – Lane’s End

I have two interesting sightings: a Rainforest Brown butterfly

and a common reedbuck.

Ashley Crookes – Copperleigh Farm

Not too much this month, I was up in the Kruger Park last week (great sightings there!) and before that I had relatives Kynan (14) and Nicky (10) visit the farm for two weeks. Nicky played with his first frog, at 10 years old I was quite stunned he’d never played with one before!

They helped me clean up the side of the road between the Boston turnoff and our farm entrance which is about 500m long. We managed to collect a full feed bag worth of rubbish, mainly comprised of beer bottles, coke cans etc. As you can see they weren’t too impressed with the way that people treat their country. Sadly we already had a coke can that managed to find its way onto the side of the road the next day.

We also had a young Fish Eagle terrorizing the rest of the birds, ducks and geese the one day. It tried to catch a coot off the dam before dropping it, and then proceeded to fly around the area causing all the other birds to take off. One old crow obviously got tired of the ruckus and actually chased it away!

Rose and Barry Downard – Oak Tree Cottage

After much resistance, the crows have been evicted from their nest at the top of one of our plane trees by a pair of Egyptian geese who have taken over the nest.

Also seen: Long-crested Eagle, hoopoes, cape robin, house sparrows, cape sparrows, fiscal shrike, mousebirds, southern boubou, olive thrush, weavers, redeyed doves, cape turtle doves, egrets, cardinal woodpecker, bulbuls, flocks of red-billed quelea, white-eyes, storks, grey herons, black kites. Bees, carpenter bees, butterflies, caterpillars, dwarf chameleon, slender mongoose. Heard: Jackals, Fish Eagles.

Sandra and Pat Merrick – Albury

With July being so warm have had a number of butterflies. So strange for this time of year. Saw an otter in the dam and it bit the nose of our rottie. Our dogs killed a samango monkey yesterday. Our rottie was savaged by one earlier this year. Thank goodness we weren’t here to see this. I guess they are coming into the garden looking for food. Saw a fish eagle sitting on the top of one of our pine trees overlooking the dam. We have been inundated with thousands of grasshoppers eating our azaleas and anything else that is turning green. This is crazy weather. Our oak trees started leafing 10 days ago – a month early. We have had plenty reed buck and oribi eating the green shoots on the fire breaks.

In the past week we have seen a female oribi on our one boundary fence, and a male on the other boundary fence. On the 26th july took a photo of 3 oribi (2 females and one male) and 5 reed buck grazing on the hill – all in one photo!! So blessed to get that photo.

On Saturday had the bizarre experience of watching 5 blue crane landing at the dam. There were 4 adult ones and a youngster. I watched for 2 hrs until it got dark. The 4 large ones kept running up and down the edge of the dam and then would stop and look back at the youngster. There was a lot of “craaking”.

The youngster would slowly follow them and then stop. I thought they were trying to wean him/her and kept expecting them to fly away and leave him behind. Could not understand why there were 4 adults involved in this behaviour. At no time did the youngster run to meet up with them. They would always run back to him and have a “craaking” session. After the sun set and it was getting dark, the 2 adults moved slightly away and the other 2 went and had a “chat” with baby

The next morning the 3 had flown off and only 2 remained. They have been walking around the dam for 4 days now. Not sure if its our original pair or not. Sometimes one of them sits down (photo) and sometimes walks around the island area where she laid last year and lost the egg she laid there, due to water flowing into the dam and washing it away. So I have another pair to watch. Very exciting.

Neville van Lelyveld – Benn Meadhon

Oribi It is very pleasing to report that baby and mother where once again sighted this last weekend. Baby and mother both appear to be doing well. Baby has increased in size relevant to month’s gap since the last count was done.

Bush Buck One male and one female where observed by the bottom carrot field in the natural forest near the Dargle river. Both appeared to be in good health. It is very unusual to see a male and a female together as they are solitary animals and only meet up to mate and then go their separate ways once the act of mating has taken place. One sincerely hopes that this pair where in the process of mating, time will tell as we will continue to monitor these two bush buck in this area to see the outcome of this observation.

Reedbuck A total of 20 sighting where made with a similar result as last month. All the youngsters seemed to fine and health. It is pleasing that they don’ seem to mind us observing them from a fairly close range and in some cases only metres away. They are obviously feeling safe. Most of the females are accompanied by a youngster of various ages. Breed ing is therefore going well. It is interesting to note that the reedbuck are now coming out as early as 16h00 in the afternoon and the odd animal can be seen during the day. This is probably due to the colder weather currently been experienced as well as that they feel safe enough to come out during these times. What is really interesting that they are coming out very shortly after the farm activity ceases.

Grey duiker Once again several grey duikers were sighted during the weekend. One thing that was very different on this weekend was that a male together with a pregnant female was sighted just off the road behind the old quarry at about 08h00 on Sunday morning. Another doe was also sighted by your cross roads forest at about 09h00. This is the first time that we have observed duiker that time of the morning. Although duiker are usually diurnal animals the ones on the farm have resorted to been nocturnal. It is well documented that this happen when they feel threatened. I assume that the ones on the farm have resorted to nocturnal feeding due to the normal farm activities. However with the diurnal sighting made his last weekend it appears as though this is changing once again. The other possibility is that Sunday morning was abnormally cold and it might just be a case of the duiker were moving back to their sleeping areas a lot later as a result of the cold weather. Antelope have been known to do this. These various theories will have to be proven out over the next few visits.

Bush pigs No bush pigs were observed this weekend. This seemed unusual as all conditions seemed ideal for them, but from my experience with these creatures is that they appear to have a mind of their own and just once you think you understand them they do something strange like not coming out on a perfect night like on this occasion. Well that is bush pigs. I love them for their intellectual brain. Doing anything with them is always a battle of wills and a case of trying to out whit them. Truly an intelligent animal.

Porcupine No Porcupine were observed, however there is a lot of evidence in the forms of scat, tracks and quills to suggest that there is porcupine activity were seen. A fair amount of new porcupine diggings were also observed.

Jackals No jackals were sighted, however based on the sheer numbers of jackals calling on the farm on Saturday night at varying times all through the night. There appears to be an increase in jackal activity on the farm. This will make sense based on the increase of calving by the antelope happening at the moment. It could also be attributed to the burning that has taken place as they are now able to see their prey such as vlei rat’s a lot easier. There also appears to be lot of cattle calving at the moment on the farm, this too will increase the jackal activity on the farm.

Blue Crane Several blue cranes were observed by the by the bottom boundary near Handbury where we spent most of Saturday.

Spurwing Geese A flock of five Spurwing geese where sighted flying overhead towards Howard Long’s by the boundary near Handbury at around 09h00 on Saturday morning. These are the only ones sighted this visit as this where we concentrated our observations this month.

Egyptian Geese A flock of eight Egyptian geese were sighted flying over head towards Howard Long’s by the boundary near Hanbury on Saturday morning around 10h00.

Nikki Brighton – Old Kilgobbin Farm

Lots of interesting paw and claw prints in the mud on the edges of dam and pools. Definitely water mongoose and jackal, but some biggish “cat” ones too – about the size of the palm of my hand – Caracal I expect.

Sombre bulbul, brown headed kingfisher, Fish Eagle, weavers, collared sunbird, 50 Cape Parrots, double collared sunbird, amethyst sunbird, bulbuls, chorister robin, thrush, cape robin chat, stone chat, fiscal shrike, white eyes, mouse birds, bush black cap, crows, thick billed weavers, purple heron, yellow billed ducks, Jackal Buzzard, Egyptian geese, Cardinal woodpecker, southern boubou.

Duiker, reedbuck, bushbuck, heard bush pig, scrub hare, Samangos.

Halleria, Buddleja dysophylla, Buddleja salvifolia, Jamesbritennia kraussiana, Apodolirion buchananii (pic), Cyrtanthus breviflorus, Ursinia tenuiloba

Cranes at Dargle School

As part of the Dargle Conservancy 10 Anniversary celebrations, we sponsored a lesson on Cranes – (our logo) at Corrie Lynn School. Only three of the learners had seen cranes in the wild. After learning about the three types of cranes found in South Africa: their habitats and eating habits, how they mate for life and love to dance, they made two crowned cranes puppets. Using recycled cardboard tubing, old posters, bags and local gathered dry grass, two beautiful cranes were created and everybody went outside to try and make their cranes dance with some grace.

Read about the fun Corrie Lynn School children had during the holidays photographing the uMngeni River (also a Dargle Conservancy sponsored activity): http://darglelocalliving.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/budding-dargle-photographers/

Trapped on Camera

The roving camera trap which belongs to the Midlands Conservancies Forum has been in the valley on Hilton College Estate for the last 6 weeks.  These are some of the hundreds of interesting images which it captured. Thanks Deren Coetzer for sending them in.  If you’d like to set up the camera trap in your Conservancy for a while, contact Hazel at secretary@midlandsconservancies.org.za.

Nyala

Jackals

Spotted Genet

Another Caracal

Warthog

Jackal

Porcupine

MCF are considering buying a set of cameras to conduct some in depth wildlife surveys and possibly holding a workshop on how to make the best use of them.

For a typical survey the recommended layout is at least one camera per square kilometer. Run for at least 400-500 camera trap days to pick up common animals, and 1000-2000 days to pick up rare animals.  Camera trap days = (number of cameras x number of days) so eg 5 cameras x 30 days = 150 camera trap days. So with 5 cameras covering 5km2, the survey period should be at least 3 months ( 5 cameras x 90 days = 450 camera trap days).  Ideally a survey should be run annually at the same time each year to make useful comparisons.

If you are interested in participating, or perhaps buying a camera for your own Conservancy, let Hazel know secretary@midlandsconservancies.org.za