ODD FINDINGS

Who says one has to travel far to spot strange and interesting things? Over the past while, I have come across several odd things of interest right here at home. The first ‘found’ me while I was working at my desk. Seemingly from nowhere, this spider dropped down onto the paper I was writing on:

Then, I was washing dishes when I looked out of the kitchen window – my attention was caught by something ‘solid looking’ apparently bouncing or hovering in one place against the wall of the garage. What could it be? Of course I had to go outdoors for a closer look. It turns out to be a rainspider web – nest might be a better description – made up of dried Erythrina leaves bound in silken threads and firmly anchored to the rough plastered wall. Whenever I come across webs such as these, I wonder why it is that I haven’t noticed it being constructed. I looked it up: they take only three to five hours to complete.

Here is a songololo making its way thrugh the weeds on my lawn.

So much for the creatures around. While wandering through our drought-stricken garden, I couldn’t help being attracted to these holes in the leaves of the giant Delicious Monster growing in a shady area.

Lastly – and I doubt if any of you would be expecting this – I happened upon this pile of copper coins (no longer legal tender) on the top of a wall along the side of our home. Who emptied them there and why? My grandchildren? It was an odd, yet fun, find which I have left untouched.

LOWDOWN ON A CAPE FLIGHTLESS DUNGBEETLE

Apart from the wild animals that visitors to the Addo Elephant National Park hope to see, there are warning signs throughout drawing one’s attention to the presence of the Addo flightless dung beetles (Circellium bacchu). While these beetles are endemic to a few areas in Southern Africa, the Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape has the biggest population of them. I have written before about these unique arthropods which lack wings and mostly feed on elephant or buffalo dung.

The warning signs are to stop visitors from driving over the beetles and the balls of dung they may be rolling across the road. The dung beetles have right of way – yet many drivers ignore the signs and crush the beetles under the wheels of their vehicles without another thought. As I have noted before, we need to heed the signs, heed the piles of dung in the road, and be particularly careful to heed the presence of these rare species on the road: every beetle needlessly crushed under the wheels of vehicles means a life cycle that cannot be completed!

We were able to get a very close look at one of the dung beetles whilst we were enjoying a picnic in the Addo Elephant National Park. Although she used my cell phone, I am grateful to my granddaughter, who was able to take these lowdown pictures of the beetle for me, which I hope you will enjoy too.

Its droppings.

A SPIDER’S NEST

A spider’s nest and not a web? Technically it is a web, of course, but not the delicately woven orb that catches dewdrops that sparkle in the early morning light. The compact shape of it is more reminiscent of a tightly woven nest – and it secures the little ones inside, just as the nest of a bird does. What are you talking about? I have featured the nest / web of a rain spider before – usually taken outside. This is what confronted me when I fully opened our lounge curtains during December (they had more or less been kept closed to keep out the heat of the summer sun):

Intriguing. I hadn’t noticed what had been happening behind the curtains. Naturally, I then felt the need to keep an eye on the progress being made. A few days later, this is what I saw:

Hundreds of tiny spiders, some bunched together while others were already haring off on their individual adventures. They had all disappeared (I imagine most of them made their way outdoors) within a day or two. This is what the mother would have looked like – not of these little spiders, for this one was ‘waiting’ for me when I lifted the lid of our rubbish bin outside the kitchen. Of course I jumped back in surprise and my toes curled. She is a rather beautiful creature, nonetheless:

RANDOM NOVEMBER SIGHTINGS

It is often the small things that attract my attention when I am out and about and these do not happily fit into a particular category or are sufficiently interesting to turn into a story of their own. So, here are some of a number of things that caught my eye during November. The first is one of several millipedes one sees at this time of the year. In South Africa they are colloquially known as a songololo or shongololo – a name apparently derived from an Nguni word ‘ukushonga’ meaning ‘roll up’, which is what they do when they are alarmed. They grow to be about 15cm long and can give off a most unpleasant smell when they happened to be crunched underfoot.

Moleheaps, such as this one, are the bane of the lives of perfectionist gardeners who like a smooth and untroubled lawn. We call them moles, but they are actually Cape mole-rats (Georychus capensis) which are endemic to South Africa. These herbivorous creatures feed on bulbs, corms and tubers – you can see why they are loathed by some gardeners.

I found this interesting looking moth on some concrete steps and was taken aback by its attractive colouring.

This metal door handle opens the door to the Church of St. Johns Anglican the Evangelist in Bathurst. The screws look a lot newer than the rest of it.

This is a detail from a metal railing surrounding an historical grave.

Apart from old stone forts dotted around the Eastern Cape, loopholes such as this can also be seen in fortified farm houses dating back to the 1820s.

 

BUTTERFLIES FROM THE NORTH

I left you all with a post on the Garden Inspector butterfly that visited our garden before we left for our long sojourn in the northern hemisphere. It seems fitting then that the first photograph I took in Norway was of this Small Tortoiseshell:

A closer look reveals it to be an attractive butterfly which was commonly seen in both Norway and in England while we were there:

Having seen numerous photographs of Peacock butterflies in other blogs, I was very pleased to nab a picture of my own. I learned that the eye-spots are used to scare away predators when the butterflies flap their wings:

I spotted this tiny butterfly, one of several I had seen from a distance several times whilst staying in Kent. My host identified it as a Holly Blue:

This one may be a Comma. I am no expert, but am drawn to this identification by the deep scallops in the orange and brown wings:

Red Admirals abounded and so I was pleased with the co-operation of this one when I stopped for tea after a pleasant walk along the River Darent near Eynsford:

Please feel free to correct my identification of these beautiful creatures.