Stuart

The Bush Tick-berry

Osteospermum moniliferum. The pretty flowers are attractive to insects, especially butterflies, but when the fruit gets ripe it becomes the turn of many garden birds! The Bush Tick-berry Thesecondplantinthisseries,the Bush Tick-berry Osteospermummoniliferum (previously known as Chrysanthemoidesmonilifera), hasbeenselectedto satisfy impatient gardeners or those with new gardens. This is because it can be relied upon to produce …

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Haemanthus

PLANT OF THE MONTH By Geoff Nichols Haemanthus albiflos; White Paint Brush; Witpoeierkwas (Afrikaans) licishamlilo (Siswati); uzaneke, uzeneke (Zulu) This plant is heavily utilised by traditional healers and herb gatherers for use in traditional medicine. It has declined in the wild, where it occurs on our eastern seaboard in coastal thickets and drier forests from …

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Aneilema

PLANT OF THE MONTH By Geoff Nichols Aneilema aequinoctiale; ClingingAneilema; idangaban e elikhulu (Zulu) This is the cousin of last month’s Blue flowered Aneilema. This plant is more common in the damper edges of forest, and with us here in KwaZulu-Natal, it is found in swamp forest. The first time you’ll notice it is when …

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BUSH AND BEACH – BIRDING AND MORE IN SOUTHERN MOZAMBIQUE

BUSH AND BEACH – BIRDING AND MORE IN SOUTHERN MOZAMBIQUE WITH ETIENNE MARAIS BIRDING September 14 – 23, 2023 By Mark Liptrot marklipt1 @ gmail.comwith additional photos by Cecily Salmon (CS) and Brendan Ryan (BR) The elusive Green Tinkerbird Southern Mozambique has become a prime tourist destination for those of an adventurous nature and a …

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Majestic scenery, Butterflies & Birds : Westville in KZN to Rhodes in EC to the WTA Trout Festival

The Wild Trout Association Festival, now in its 32nd year, is a celebration of the humble trout and its Rhodian custodians – the riparian owners, guides and providers of accommodation. Each year fly fishermen and women flock to Rhodes to enjoy days of splendid river fishing and camaraderie that this event generates. 2023 marked a year of exceptionally high rainfall both before and during the Festival, resulting in muddy rivers and even muddier roads. This did not deter our happy band of “furry feather flingers” who managed to find fishable waters on each of the allocated days. Now read on…

ZULULAND BIRDING WEEKEND

BirdlifeKZN had organised a weekend away in conjunction with several KwaZulu Natal bird clubs in and around Ezemvelo’s Mkhuze Game Reserve – part of the World Heritage Site of iSimangaliso Wetland Park. The highlight was to be a morning spent at the Zimanga Private Game Reserve homestead gardens with its spectacular collection of aloes.