In the wild, grasslands and woodlands grow themselves without any help from us. To an extent (and in miniature) we can mimic this in our suburban gardens. Continue reading “Do not disturb: Let parts of the garden grow itself”
The Southern Boubou is most noticeable on account of its ringing duetting call. It is an audible presence in our garden, and we catch glimpses of the pair hopping through low dense foliage, but they are shy and it is difficult to get a clear view of them. These photos were taken on a recent road trip to the Western Cape and back. Cheating perhaps? Continue reading “Southern Boubou: A bushshrike that’s usually quite shy”
The theme of this week’s photo challenge is “transmogrify”. Here are some river frog eggs about to transform into tadpoles. Continue reading “Frog’s eggs morphing to tadpoles”
This elegantly slender, auburn-hued mongoose with a distinctive black tip to its long tail is most often seen dashing for cover, although sometimes it does stop to look back over its shoulder before disappearing into dense vegetation. Seeing this mongoose just beyond the bottom of our garden was a special experience. Continue reading “Elusive garden visitor: Slender Mongoose”
What catches the eye is not so much the bright red collar as the iridescent green sheen of this Southern Double-collared Sunbird. Continue reading “Sunbird shine”
Spring has definitely arrived when these lilies start flowering. After being dormant throughout the winter, a green spear emerges from the ground to open into this brilliant flower. Continue reading “From winter dormancy to a spring spectacle: the Paintbrush Lily”
Raindrops strung like pearls on a spider’s web after light spring rains in our suburban garden in South Africa. This has been such welcome rain during these years of drought. Continue reading “Strings of raindrop pearls”
Not all Kingfishers catch fish, as can be seen in this photo of a Brownhooded Kingfisher. Rather than a fish, he has just caught a cricket. This Kingfisher hunts by sitting on a low perch, in this case our garden fence, watching the ground for potential prey. Continue reading “Brownhooded Kingfisher: The art of hunting by sitting still”
There is a place for a vegetable patch in any suburban garden, including wildlife-friendly gardens. Letting nature back in can include growing food plants and letting nature into your kitchen. In keeping with my rather laissez-faire attitude to gardening, we stick with herbs and vegetables that are relatively easy to grow and suited to the local climate and soils. Continue reading “Letting nature back in via a kitchen garden”
