Nog 'n Piep

The aftermath of the Rooiberg trip continues to haunt us. Casey had a puncture on the way to Rooiberg Lodge for the GCBR meeting, the Drifter developed one on the Rooiberg Jeep track and another one on the way home. And the morning after the night before, the Drifter sat sadly, slumped on yet another puncture in one of the rear wheels. Bill is becoming a familiar sight at Palm Tyres. This must surely be some sort of record. Four punctures on one trip is unusual, even for the Outramps, who are used to vehicle adversity. FMC!

Bill and I joined WAGS on Wednesday on a hike to the leaky Dam and back, which is a round trip of 16km. I’m not going to cover this, as Evie did so a week or so ago, when they searched for a missing hiker. Sufficient to say that it was a glorious day, although walking mainly on roads had the inevitable result. My aged joints take strong exception to this sort of going and I was singing like a canary by the time we reached home.

On Friday, we continued our post-burn monitoring at Fynbos Estate, which is owned by Chris von Christierson and managed by Quentin who was there to meet us at the gate. This property is part of the Robberg Corridor Conservancy and we were initially asked by Cape Nature to do some work there. Joining us for the day, was Warrick Stewart who owns the company Resilience Advice and is based at Knysna. He is the Managing Director and Principal Environmental Advisor and does environmental planning. Richard Cowling at NMU was one of his supervisors when he did his Masters. He has been appointed by SANBI to assess the CREW Programme and the CREW Groups, to see how the initiative can be improved and made more productive. For us, at first it felt a bit like an inspector visiting a school. As my last day at Holy Cross Convent Aliwal North was about 62 years ago, I only have a very hazy memory of those visits, but I do remember that they were anticipated with some dread. This feeling didn’t last long. In a very little time, we were seeing Warrick as an ally and a potential conscript to the Outramps. He had all the qualities we look for in new members. He was young(ish), fit, intelligent, knowledgeable and fun to be with. Obviously he has a company to run, but he may be able to join us on field trips about once a month. We certainly hope so.

But back to the Fynbos Estate. The regeneration since our last visit in November is good. Anisodontea scabrosa is all over the place doing an excellent pioneering job. Bobartia aphylla is also still in evidence, although not in flower. Osteospermum moniliferum is resprouting well and we were delighted to find Nicky’s Blue Fountain Pea (Psoralea vanberkelae) making an excellent post-fire recovery. Teedia lucida is looking lush and green with tiny pink flowers. This plant looks like an alien and is very unfynbossy (?), but it is obviously one of the pioneers in amongst Virgilia oroboides, Leucadendron salignum and Leucospermum cuneiforme. We also found Oxalis pendulifolia (Near Threatened) and Selago burchellii (Vulnerable). Of Muraltia knysnaensis (Endangered) there was no sign. Its continued absence is becoming worrisome. We need to find it soon.

Unfortunately, Fynbos regeneration comes hand in hand with the aliens. This property is well-looked after, but they have a job on their hands. Acacia cyclops, Phytolacca sp, Kikuyu and other alien grasses, Bugweed (Solanum mauritianum), Black Wattle and Bluegums are the main protagonists enjoying the lack of competition post-fire. The Bluegums have all been ringbarked, but some of them are still surviving. It’s going to be a long hard haul for Quentin and his Team. Builders are currently working on the house built of local sandstone. It was severely damaged in the June fires of 2017. In an understated way, it is going to be magnificent, as it looks over the jagged coastline to Kranshoek and the Harkerville Trail to the west.

Weatherwise, it was a gloomy day with dark ominous clouds rolling in overhead, a nippy southeaster bringing the promise of Winter and the odd drizzle with some rain. In every other way it was rewarding and a whole lot of fun. Thanks to all who contributed to this.
tanniedi

Demographics of CREW
Chatting to Warwick, he mentioned demographics, which is a difficult one. Most of you are aware that the Outramps are largely white, old and female. The young have a tendency to call us the “Aunties” and the “Uncles” and Brian irreverently refers to me as “tanniedi”. The reality is that young people are busy working and mostly don’t have the time or money for things like CREW. Unfortunately, to do the job, you need to have time and some money. Running around the countryside in the Southern Cape does not come cheap, especially when you add punctures and vehicle maintenance into the equation. We have got round this dilemma, by adopting “young” as part of the Group and sponsoring them on field trips. And this is the list and where they are right now.
Vathiswa – Head of CREW Eastern Cape
Patrick – GIS Cape Nature
Alistair – Law Enforcement Cape Nature
Rudi – EIA consultant
Verdi – West Coast Biosphere
Brian – Masters at Stellies – Revision of Polhillia genus
Finn – Curator of the George Botanical Gardens
Lee-Anne – Masters at University of Pretoria
Sandile – Botany Dept NMU
Peter Thompson – Masters in Artificial intelligence at Stellies. He has a Cum Laude degree in Maths and his thesis is somewhat above me - it is evidently on an environmental theme.
Our latest “young” is Thabang Sibiya of Sanparks. Unfortunately she couldn’t make it on Friday, because of a meeting commitment.
tanniedi

Some more info on the eyed Pansy from Stuart Thomson of the Great Brak Conservancy
Junonia orithya madagascariensis - Common name: eyed Pansy.
This butterfly is widespread but uncommon., Although mostly inland grassland and savanna, it has been recorded from Port St John's in the E Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, Mozambique, Limpopo, NW province, Gauteng, Free State, Northern Cape, Namibia and Botswana.

Host plants are Antirrhinum spp, Plectranthus spp and Hygrophila spp.

Lepidopterist Dr Dave Edge commented
“ This butterfly seems to have really established itself in the Mossel Bay area this year. Also recorded from Hartenbosheuwels. It has steadily been moving south-west over the last few years - we think that this is a combination of climate change and its shift to a new host plant - Plantago sp. “

Before receiving feedback from Dave Edge I commented to Sally of the Outramps’, mentioning that with the climate changing…… who knows what we will find in our surrounding area? More food for thought…. If a prestige wine farm in Somerset West can find a black mamba in a consignment of trees purchased from a Nursery in KZN, then what else is hitching rides to other parts of the country??
Stuart

SIM are hoping to do and thereandback from De Hoek to the ridge above Bothashoek in the Swartberg on Friday. I will be in touch with KG to get permission. LOT are proposing another visit to the Robinson Pass area. It would seem that Oxalis ioeides continues to elude them.
Hamba Kahle
Groete en dankie
Di Turner
Outramps CREW Group
Southern Cape

All id’s subject to confirmation by Doc Annelise and Jan Vlok, Steven Molteno, Dr Tony Rebelo, Nick Helme, Prof Charlie Stirton, Dr Robert Archer, Dr Robert McKenzie, Dr Ted Oliver, Christopher Whitehouse, Derek Tribble, Adriaan Grobler, Prix Burgoyne, Dr Kenneth Oberlander, Dr Pieter Winter, Dr David Gwynne-Evans and Mattmatt on iNat. Thank you all for your ongoing help and support.

Abbreviations Glossary

MCSA – Mountain Club of South Africa
MSB - Millenium Seed Bank based at Kew in the UK
WIP – Work in Progress
HAT – High Altitude Team
LOT – Lowland Team
SIM – Somewhere in the Middle Team
WAGS – Wednesday Adventure Group
VB – Vlok Boekie “Plants of the Klein Karoo” and our Plant Bible
ITRTOL – Another thread “In The Rich Tapestry Of Life”(It describes a challenging situation, usually to do with the Buchu Bus)
ITFOT – In the fullness of time
WOESS – Fair Weather Hiker
FMC and JW – too vulgar to translate, but the equivalent is “Strike me Dead” An expression of surprise and delight on finding a new “Rare”
Kambro – same as above
Fossick – A meter per minute, scratching around looking for rares
SIDB – Skrop in die Bos – Another name for a field trip, this one coined by Prix
BAFFING – Running round like a blue-arsed fly
SYT – Sweet Young Thing - Anyone under the age of 40
TOMB – Get a move on
Mayhem - Needless or willful damage or violence
SESKRYNG – “Sit en staan kry niks gedaan” ,with thanks to Brian
SOS – Skelms on Scramblers
FW – Idiot
BOB – Another name for the Buchu Bus when she’s misbehaving.
CRAFT – A symptom of Old Age
DDD - Metalasia tricolor (Damned Diabolical Daisy)
VP – Vrekplek – Retirement Village
Qàq – Self-explanatory Inuit word describing some of our local problems
Mr Fab – Our Fabaceae specialist, Brian Du Preez – originally Boy 1
Muisvoel -The Mathematician – Peter Thompson
Boy 2 – Kyle Underwood who works on Orchids and is still at school
Sharkie – Finn Rautenbach – Our latest SYT is a surfer in his spare time
Sicko – Someone who suffers from Car Sickness. With 4 in the Group, allocating seating in the Buchu Bus is tricky
VAG – Virgin Active Garage, which is our meeting place when we head north
MATMUE – Meet At The Mall Under E - Meeting place when we head West
WG – Waves Garage in Wilderness East. - Meeting place when we’re going east.
VU- Vulnerable
DDT – Data Deficient and Taxonomically ?
NT – Near Threatened
EN – Endangered
CR – Critically Endangered
PE – Presumed extinct
LC – Least Concern
TBC – To be Confirmed
TLC – Tender loving care
JMS – An expression of absolute disdain
FOMO – Fear of Missing Out
Milk – the fruit of the vine
Condensed Milk – Scotland’s finest export
Full Cream Milk or Fat Milk – Any product of Humulus lupulus eg. Milk Stout
Milk of the Gods – Rooibos and Brandy
Milk Shake - Sparkling Wine
NS – Species of conservation concern new to the Outramps
PS -Priority Species allocated to the Outramps by our CREW Cape Co-ordinator , Ismail Ebrahim
iNFD – iNaturalist for Dummies as compiled by Sally
Mizzle – Mist and drizzle combined. A regular feature of George in the ”good old days”.
FE – Fire Ephemeral – only appears immediately or after a couple of years after fire
Squirrel – aka President Ramaphosa
WOG – Wrath of God – eg. incurred when you put a young Pine tree on iNat as Leucadendron album
Skedonk - A banger - old, battered motor car more than 30 years old
Hoedown - redneck gathering, usually involves shouting catchy phrases like "yee-haw" and "the south will rise again"
VHF - Vat Hom Fluffie - describing a furry or woolly plant

Posted on May 28, 2018 09:01 AM by outramps-tanniedi outramps-tanniedi

Comments

No comments yet.

Add a Comment

Sign In or Sign Up to add comments

Gracias al apoyo de:

¿Quiere apoyarnos? Pregúntenos cómo escribiendo a snib.guatemala@gmail.com