Dark Winged Fungus Gnat
Die muggies kom van buiteEn vrek dan teen die ruite…(With apologies to Koos du Plessis) Did you also have an infestation of tiny flies this winter, with scores of minute dead bodies on the window sills? Photos by Dr Vic Hamilton-Attwell These small Dipterans (two-winged insects such as house flies and mosquitoes) were identified […]
Darwin At The Cape of Good Hope
Charles Darwin visited the Cape of Good Hope in mid-1836 towards the end of the five-year, round-the-world voyage of the HMS Beagle. Although he was (understandably) exhausted and keen to return home, he made good use of his only landfall in Africa. He travelled widely, made detailed observations on local geology and the fynbos biome, […]
The Dandy Dandelion
When I was a child, a very long time ago, my family visited my paternal grandmother at her beach house in the southern Cape every summer. It was a wonderful care-free holiday with friends who, like us, came to the beach for the summer holidays. It was an idyllic place for swimming, lying on the […]
A tough Nut to Crack
It is widely recognised that South Africa, especially the fynbos region, is being overrun by invasive alien vegetation from Australia. Think of all the Port Jackson willow, Australian myrtle, black wattle and Rooikrans (Acacia cyclops), to name but a few. But are there any Australian trees that are not invasive and make a positive contribution […]
Good Night
GOOD NIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT… Cimex lectularius creep into dark, warm hiding places where they can shun the lightof day. They are light to reddish-brown, flat, oval, 4-5 mm long and 2mm wide, but pack a punch well above their tiny size. They suck the blood of all animals – including humans! They saw through the […]
Saving Our Seabirds
The recent breaching of the Klein River Estuary was quite dramatic as the water level was high and there was a tremendous pressure of water that flowed out into the sea. Sadly, a channel had been dug illegally causing the estuary to breach at the wrong time – at night when the waterfowl were roosting. […]
The Leopard Tortoise
It seems that people tend to name animals by their spots, if they have them; Leopard toad, Leopard tortoise …. A game ranger once related the tale of how he took some naïve tourists on a game drive and, on spotting a Leopard tortoise explained that it is so named because it drags its prey […]
The Ostrich
We all know ostriches (Struthio camelus) and have no doubt all been gladdened at the sight of these impressive birds in their wild habitat. There is much about them that is fascinating – for example, did you know that ostriches are among the scant three percent of all birds in which the males have penises? […]
Autumn Beauties
During the hot, dry summer months of the Cape Floral Kingdom, we don’t see many spectacular flowers, although flowers there are indeed – mostly those whose small size reduces their heat stress. Geophytes (bulbous plants) are supremely adapted to these conditions – they simply lie low underground in a resting state – a bit like […]
Magic Moments
It is well known among conservationists that the best way to enthuse people about the environment is to give them a ‘magic moment’ experience in nature. Among the many attractions that Hermanus offers, there is always the possibility of an unexpected encounter with wildlife. We are charmed by garden Acraea butterflies and their spiky caterpillars, […]