So I was busy murdering a cherry tree like George Washington when a goggo scurried out of my meadow onto my driveway. I took a photo and before I could take another, or turn ‘him’ over to see his underneath, he was gone. Scuttled off.
I thought I had a good idea what it was – a crustacean, not an insect. I ‘knew’ cos he didn’t have wings; he didn’t have legs; he had scales like a pangolin; Hey! This was no insect. But which crustacean was he, I wondered?
Dunno, so I put him on iNaturalist.
My suggestion was crustacean? woodlouse?
Back came the reply: Giant cockroach. Rubbish I thought! Look again! And then I found out it’s not just the birding world that can get all superior on you! BUT! I said – he doesn’t have wings! I was answered with a growl:
Blaberid cockroach, confirmed and doubly confirmed and finally confirmed. Wingless female.
OK. Tucked my tail twixt me legs then.
~~oo0oo~~
goggo – thingamibob; gogga; creature; insect
So if I had been able to turn HER upside down I’d have seen this:
Jess and I have been sussing out the Zululand game reserves COVID-19 scene and phoning and today was the day. We left soon after 6am. My gauge showed how little I have driven in lockdown – I filled up on the 24th March: Less than 100km in three months!
We got to the gate before 9am where the staff were very friendly and welcoming as they gave us an arms-length welcome complete with hand sanitising and temperature measuring.
Lovely day, not a cloud in the sky but a stiff breeze. Very few animals about but we just enjoyed being there. I decided to go straight to Sontuli picnic site for lunch and then straight home so we’d be back before 5pm.
– Jess took a shot of the Thrush and a selfie –
Jess made a lovely picnic lunch while I recorded a whole bunch of birds: Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Olive Thrush, Southern Black Tit, Golden-breasted Bunting, African Hoopoe, FT Drongo, Black Flycatcher, Blue Waxbill, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Emerald-spotted Wood Dove, Red-eyed Dove, White-backed Vulture, Rufous-naped Lark, Black-crowned Tchagra, Black-bellied Starling, Dark-capped Bulbul, Long-billed Crombec, Mocking Cliff Chat bashing a gecko, Yellow-fronted Canary, Pied Crow, Red-faced Mousebird, Crowned Lapwing, Red-billed Oxpecker, Cattle Egret, Woolly-necked Stork, etc. Heard Greater Honeyguide, Green-backed Camaroptera and Gorgeous Bush Shrike up close, but couldn’t spot them.
Jess spotted eles, giraffe, zebra, square-lipped rhino, warthogs, impala, and I saw one bushbuck.
On the way out I ducked down a side road to Bhekapansi Pan at the spur of the moment. And got a flat tyre! I asked Jess to keep her eyes peeled for lion and rhino – we’d seen both nearby – but she was intent on getting pics of me sweating.
My jack didn’t lift the car high enough to get the spare on; luckily a fellow Ford Ranger driver came along and I could use his jack on a rock to lift it up the extra 50mm I needed!
Thank you! That got us up and away – and home by 6:30pm
I won’t get all the credits right, but for starters, bird pics from Roger Hogg, butterfly, moth and caterpillar – and many other creatures – from Suncana Bradley. And a few butterfliesf and a whip scorpion from me:
Petrea said to Jess, Cook a curry for your Dad. Jess said, ‘I’ve never done that before.’ Don’ worry, says Petrea and delivers a box. Leaves it at the gate.
All you have to buy is chicken, Jess. On the day, Jess marches into my office, ‘Dad! There’s no recipe!’ Petrea says read the back of the spices, Jess. Oh.
It was delicious! Tom specially came in and gave his sis a big hug and kiss and said ‘Jess! Best curry ever!’
This year’s Comrades Marathon has been CoVidded – no go. This was the 2013 Comrades ultra-marathon. The route runs past our doorstep, and I have a houseful of hooligans, so in 2013 I hatched a plan . .
I said the book was coming. Now it’s here! I’m on page 121 236 and I’ll report back soon.
I finished and will have to write a summary. What a saga! Twenty years of telling people one simple fact: What these developers are proposing will completely ruin Vetch’s Pier and Vetch’s Beach! And very few people listening. Eventually Johnny managed to get some people to listen. The result is he managed to SAVE VETCH’s BEACH!! – an amazing feat for one man, his two-man legal team – who did the work Pro Deo – and the people he managed to get to support these three principled people against huge evil rich crooked corrupt private and government adversaries. But Vetch’s Pier is gone forever.
My copy was hand-delivered by the author himself! Johnny Vassilaros met me in the PnP parking lot near my home – he had penned a lovely inscription -:
If you’re interested in Durban; if you’re interested in good governance; if you’re interested in skullduggery and corruption and thieving; if courage and principle is important to you; and if you’re interested in reading the Wonderful Prose of Johnny – get this book! – write to littleboatsandbigfish@gmail.com –
I suddenly realised yesterday that the Yellow-bellied Greenbul was in bright light, as was the Purple-crested Turaco that was the next lady for a shave. It was 8am and the trouble with my birdbath is that it’s in deep shade and the morning light from behind makes photography difficult.
Took me a while to work it out. So this morning I recorded what happened. Watch how the sun is behind the trees, then suddenly appears between the pickup and left of the trees! Then the sunlight moves from left to right till the birdbath is bathed in its glory.
What the heck? I walked out onto the lawn and looked back:
– the sun from the east beating down on my chair – the reflected sun shining back on my birdbath –
The building behind us on the crest of the hill reflects the winter morning sun down onto my birdbath! Whattapleasure! It’ll only last a little while as the sun moves towards winter solstice. I’ll try’n get a good picture while it lasts. This morning was windy and nothing came to the bath while I watched. Not a sausage!
Whattahoot! Just last week I had used a shaving mirror to reflect the sun onto a butterfly in shade. Here it was being done for me!
– Forest Queen butterfly in shade – in sun by using a shaving mirror –
Steve Reed sent a query aus Aussie in 2015: Any good ophthalmologists on the East or North Rand come to mind? My 71 year-old brother Doug sounds like he has cataracts. Wants to know who to go see. He does not trust his optometrist anymore who keeps giving him stronger glasses (What!? Us!?). So he wants to go and see someone who is not the butcher of Bedfordview.
A reply: From deep behind the boerewors curtain – even deeper behind it than Bedfordview – came a dodgy reply, shamelessly rigging the tender in favour of family – a distant cousin: ‘Clive Novis is good for cataracts’ (this was his fourth cousin Brauer speaking).
Five years later (2020) I was clearing out old emails and followed up to Reed and Brauer: Did Doug have his cat tracks whipped out? Surely yes, cos if you see a cataract surgeon . . .
Reed replied – and got the subject onto cycling: Yeah, he had ’em done. Some peer pressure from his wealthy cycling mates who were proudly pitching up without their spoogoos and sporting plano Oakley cycling sunglasses! So yes, he was getting myopic shift. His optom sent him after she could not improve his VA any more. After a lot of pre-op anxiety – his pressures spiked post-op – could not see and had to have a fair bit of treatment before it all settled down.
So wisely, he succumbed to peer pressure for the cataracts but not the $12 000 carbon fibre bikes. He is a wise man and his decisions are measured.
I responded, ignoring Doug’s drama and honing in on what was important: Bikes. Liewe bliksem. I bought my first bike in Westville for R150. Loved it. Then I bought a really nice GIANT hardtail for R1250 or R2250. Now that bike I really loved and was very happy with.
But Aitch and a canoeing mate (who went huge in the MTB industry – he still runs MTB trails) decided ‘Koos needs a better bike.’
Koos did not need a better bike. The reason Koos wasn’t winning races was he was stopping to look at the scenery and pushing up hills. All hills. I still push up hills. All hills. It is undignified to ride up hills. Cyclists only look dignified going downhill. Or posing next to their bikes.
– fancy KONA – Tom approves –
So a spanking smart KONA arrives, made in Canada, shock absorbers all over the place. High-level Shimano gearset. A computer to tell me what I did. Never switched it on. I know what I did and I’d rather not record it.
Fuckit! Rumour had it at R17500. Not high at the time relative to what some were spending, but fuckit, R1250 spent years ago was my comfort level. Hush and just say Thanks! and Wow! Koos – Aitch paid for it. I still had to buy cleats to click into the pedals. Now I walked like a doos when pushing uphills.
I faked joy and rode it. It was a softer ride, sure, but I was happy with the GIANT’s ride. Anyway, I’m a natural diplomat, Aitch had paid, be polite, thank you, love. It’s marvelous. Yes, it’s MUCH better than my old bike. Yes, I’ll be MUCH faster now.
And then I remembered a bit of empathy for Doug: Oper-fucking-rations. I don’t want none. ‘Pressures spiked post op’ – gives me the jeebies.
~~~oo0oo~~~
boerewors curtain – imaginary line separating normality from antediluvian thought processes; separates KwaZulu Natal from the throat-clearing hinterland, such as Tshwane, Gramadoelas, Boksburg, Benoni, Vanderbijlpark, Gotpietersrus, Bedfordview, even Herriesmit.
spoogoos – glasses; spectacles; eyeglasses; from the isiZulu izibuko
– R190 000 –
$12 000 – R200 000 Souf African Ront so min of meer; R10 000 more than my Ford Ranger
so min of meer – fuckit
fuckit – goodness gracious me
doos – with an odd toe-up gait cos of cycling shoes
oper-fucking-rations – surgery; definition of minor surgery: surgery on someone else
Distracted by the lovely colours I thought Ah! A Lady Beetle or a Ladybird! She was beetling about the leaves of the Bauhinia tomentosa with its beautiful yellow flowers. So I took a branchlet and took her off to photograph.
She was busy and kept moving, but I got some OK pictures and sent them off to iNaturalist. What kind of Ladybird is this? I asked, being a bit of a ladybird expert now, having sent one in a few days earlier:
– bustling about – my earlier ladybird – ID’d as a ladybird – Declivitata olivieri –
Well, the first ID came back in seconds: Bauhinia tomentosa. Oh! OK. I cropped the pic so the ladybird was bigger and the leaf smaller.
Stink Bug! Came the replies! What? My beautiful ladybird? But nope, she was a Stink Bug. Pentatominae genus. So then I looked closer, no longer distracted by the colours. Look at that shape, it’s a stink bug. You learn things on iNaturalist.
Just yesterday I was dispensing my best Calm The Fuck Down advice to a friend, and today TomTom and I have a big fat fight!
He went shopping, wheeled the trolley home (knows he’s not meant to) down a steep footpath under the big fig tree and tipped the trolley. ’30 eggs broken and the bread squashed flat,’ he yells!
Came in in a rage. ‘No-one helps me!‘
Hey Tom, its OK boy.
Gaan’d aan and aaan. ‘No-one even came to help me.’
Well, did you ask us, fella? Did you phone? He didn’t. We should have arrived like knowing fairies.
Rage – so eventually I snapped OK ENOUGH NOW, You cocked up, you didn’t ask for help, it is what it is!
Rage
SHUT UP NOW! FFS!
Storms out of the yard.
About an hour later he’s back.
‘Sorry Daddy! I apologise!‘
Me too, fella, I’m sorry. Things happen. We OK?
‘We’re OK. I just lost it when I saw the damage.‘
That’s OK. That’s understandable.
Done.
~~~oo0oo~~~
– the big old fig – and – our steep path to PnP – not trolley-friendly! –
I know I should work to earn money so I can one day sit on my arse and listen to the birds and photograph butterflies. And see two gory kills within minutes, with two animals dying before my very eyes to satisfy the hungry needs of their predators.
So this morning:
– Forest Queen – ‘rare south of the Tugela’ –
Flies don’t even have to be buttered to be photographed:
– some diptera or other – big fly –
A drongo zapped an insect in mid-flight and a sunbird nabbed probably a spider off the mistletoe, killing them mercilessly for food in the great cycle of nature. Someone has to be sitting on his arse to witness these things.
butterfly Forest Queen– remote camera setup – pics triggered from my cellphone –
This time I was determined to concentrate. I gazed at my cellphone fiercely for hours. Once I had to change the camera’s battery. This Forest Queen thought he could outwit outplay outlast me!? Huh! I was determined to catch him opening his wings to make sure he was a male. I was occasionally distracted. Had to make coffee, had to reply to some slights on whatsapp, had to take these photos to show the remote setup and my impressive camera (you’ve heard about okes with small willies having to compensate with big cameras, right? Well.). And once I was also – fatally – distracted by Tommy who NEEDED me to transfer cash to his eWallet.
I always have little ‘blues’ on my lawn; small butterflies, some tiny that flit about too small, too fast and too pale for my camera to get a decent shot. They usually look little pale grey beauties.
But yesterday one was different, bigger; so I out with the camera and managed to get two fuzzy pics:
I thought ‘Hairtail;’ iNaturalist got back in seconds and said ‘Hairstreak;’ Now I’m thinking maybe one of the Sapphires? The fascinating thing about identifying creatures is . . names change! Knowledge is constantly being updated. Often the only real way to know what you’re looking at is to ask an expert, as even the most recent books are out of date to different extents. They keep up to the minute and usually instantly have a pretty good idea of what they’re looking at, taking image, location, time of year, etc into account.
I’ll update when I find out what this beauty is. And I’ll keep an eye out for a better picture.
Ah! Suncana says its Iolaus silas, the Southern Sapphire! Sun is our in-house entomologist on our Palmiet Rangers whatsapp group, and has a Palmiet project on iNaturalist, which I have now joined. She sent a better pic – Steve Woodhall’s from biodiversityexplorer.info
– Southern Sapphire Iolaus silas – Steve Woodhall on biodiversityexplorer.info –– tiny yellow meadow flower – while I was down there –
~~~oo0oo~~~
Bonus! Pictures from a Palmiet neighbour who’s a great photographer. Most (all?) taken right here in our valley:
– Roger Hogg photos –– red-fronted tinker – Roger Hogg –
This large shiny white butterfly flitted across my view. Must get a pic of that, I thought. I watched as it flew toward a bush and – disappeared! I approached carefully, keeping A sharp lookout. And there it was only it was now matt leaf-green! The underwings closed gave it great camouflage.
– It was a Mother-of-Pearl Salamis parhassus –– noctuidae lawn-feeding caterpillar about 30mm long when elongated – according to our great neighbourhood entomologist ‘Sun’ –– maybe caterpillar with wasp eggs? – unknown crustacean – unknown beetle – – whip scorpion rescued by Jessie –
Natalobatrachus bonebergi, the Natal diving frog, Boneberg’s frog, or Kloof frog, is a small- to medium-sized frog in the family Pyxicephalidae, endemic to South Africa. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and rivers. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Nick Evans found a new site where these beauties still cling to life as development lurks all around them. No ways I’ll say where it is.
