The summer garden is made special by gorgeous flowers that attract birds and insects, and most noticeably, the industrious honeybee. Continue reading “It’s not this time of the year without … flowers and honeybees”
I first time I saw this snake was when it fell out of a grapevine over our back deck. I was sweeping the deck and it fell on the deck right beside me, much to my surprise, its surprise and the surprise of our two dogs. Continue reading “The snake that tamed me”
Tiny, but able to attack prey up to three times its size this brightly coloured flower crab spider (Thomisus genus) waits on a nasturtium flower in our vegetable garden for potential victims. Continue reading “Tiny ambush hunter”
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”
