A top ranking vervet monkey loftily surveys the neighbourhood from the top of the roof of our house. Continue reading “Weekly Photo Find: Top ranking vervet monkey”
This young Vervet Monkey in all likelihood has a precarious future. She belongs to a troop of monkeys that survives on the fringes of a suburban area that is surrounded by a commercial plantation of eucalyptus trees. She has done well to survive this far as the mortality rate of baby monkeys is high. Continue reading “Weekly Photo Find: Juvenile Vervet Monkey in the Suburbs”
An adult Vervet Monkey looks slight wistful as he watches the rest of the troop moving through the trees on the edge of our garden. Continue reading “Weekly Photo Find: Wistful Monkey in the Garden”
I often see fishing spiders in our garden pond, but this is the only time I have seen one actually catching prey, and I was fortunate to have the camera with me. Continue reading “Fishing spider catching tadpoles in the garden pond”
The first creature that caught my eye on the first day of 2019 and caused me to pick up my camera, was this garden orb spider. Its complex round web was strung across the vertical spikes of a Common Rush (Juncus effusus) next to our garden pond. Continue reading “Ornately elegant engineer: Garden orb-weaving spider”
Perhaps because Bladder Grasshoppers are active at night, they are heard rather than seen. The call of the male Bladder Grasshopper, something between a bleat, a shriek and a croak, is alarmingly loud. Continue reading “The grasshopper that shrieks in the night”
Among the first spring flowers are the delicately scented lilac-hued blossoms of the shrubby Puzzle bush. Continue reading “The Puzzle Bush: Tough, pretty and nutritious”
Only eventually did we notice a small, juvenile Natal Green Snake apparently trying to climb the smooth surface of a high window pane, when we were having coffee out on our back deck. The small creature seemed more than a little agitated as it struggled to climb to the top of the window. Continue reading “Gimme shelter: Juvenile Natal Green Snake finding overnight lodging”
The Cape Robin-Chat rather paradoxically can be shy as well as confiding. These lovely little birds occur over much of South Africa where there is dense enough vegetation to provide for their needs. Continue reading “A charming visitor: The Cape Robin-Chat”
