Except for three heads of lavender-coloured blooms, the buds are mostly still tight on the Sagewood shrubs (Buddleja salviifolia) in our garden. When looking to see if any more blooms had opened I was delighted to discover a small Flower Mantis nestled in the tiny flowers of one of the flowerheads. Continue reading “Flower Mantis ambush hunting a bee”
There was one clear view through the stems of surrounding shrubbery of this Scrub Hare remaining motionless in dappled shade, apparently hoping not to be seen, one foreleg extended rather elegantly forward. Continue reading “Weekly Photo Find: Scrub Hare”
I thought I’d stick with the baby animal theme, following on from last week’s baby Striped Ground Squirrel. Continue reading “Weekly photo find: Springbok lamb with its mum”
Ingredients for a great excursion: a sunny day, a nearby natural location, a simple packed lunch, a favourite beverage, a camera, and congenial human company (the last is optional). Continue reading “Time out: a jaunt to a nearby game reserve”
Cuteness won me over this week. Ground squirrels are very appealing anyway, but baby ones with their frail vulnerability even more so. Continue reading “Weekly Photo Find 6: Baby Ground Squirrel”
The ability of porcupines to survive in areas proximate to farmlands and suburbia is a double-edged sword for them, because their initial success results in their ongoing persecution by humans. Continue reading “Porcupines have no defence against the quill trade”
Winter and sunshine are not mutually exclusive where I live in KwaZulu-Natal. Of course too much of a good thing is not a good thing. May 2018 was the fourth-hottest May globally on record, with the other hottest Mays all occurring in the last five years (for details see here). Continue reading “Midwinter basking: Soaking up the sunshine”
The Processionary Caterpillars are out in full force again this autumn, providing easy pickings for this female African Emerald Cuckoo. Continue reading “African Emerald Cuckoo feasts on hairy caterpillars”
The autumn air has a special clarity and the sunlight a special golden quality. At this time of the year butterflies and other insects are particularly noticeable. Continue reading “Clarity in autumn: Insects and other discoveries”
