A walk along the Clearwater cliffs

While Anne, Kate and Graham were undertaking an initial assessment of grasslands in Pondoland (more details to follow in a separate post), Dorothy, Uschi and Maggie were joined by Lindo Tshapa on their walk in the grasslands along the cliff edges near Clearwater in the Umtamvuna Nature Reserve.

Lindo, whom we all met when he was an intern working for KZN Wildlife at Beacon Hill some years ago, has recently completed his Honours degree in Nature Conservation and we are currently employing him to (hopefully) complete our data capture in the HNTA Herbarium. We love having him on our walks, just as much as he enjoys the learning experience - he is an avid note-taker!

The clifftop area adjacent to Clearwater is where the third Tony Abbott memorial walk was due to take place in October.  As the grassland was burned too close to the event and there were few flowers to be seen on the day, most of the walkers elected to visit the good flowers at Beacon Hill instead. However, on this occasion there had been enough time and rain for the flowers to appear and there was lots to see - even some late Eriosema umtamvunense.

View across the grasslands at Clearwater

View up the Umtamvuna River Gorge with waterfall on left

Umtamvuna Gorge

Eriosema umtamvunense (Photo Graham G)

Along the cliffs they saw Garcinia gerrardii fruits and near the stream was a bright Genlisea hispidula.

Garcinia gerrardii

Genlisea hispidula

Lunch spot at the waterfall

Photos (unless indicated otherwise) by Maggie A and Dorothy M.

Participants: Dorothy M, Lindo T, Maggie A, Uschi T.

Manilkara Meander for photos of Dovyalis lucida

As Geoff Nichols had found ripe fruits on the Dovyalis lucida trees at Manilkara Meander, Kate and Graham picked up Lindo and went up there on Sunday afternoon.

After a brief stop to take photos of the Strychnos gerrardii fruits, we walked a little further, examining all the Dovyalis lucida trees as we went. 

Strychnos gerrardii fruits

While doing this we found Clausena anisata and Manilkara nicholsonii in fruit.

Clausena anisata fruits

Manilkara nicholsonii fruits

And then, requiring some precarious cliff-edge perching, we found several Dovyalis lucida in fruit.

Dovyalis lucida fruit

Low on the ground were Streptocarpus haygarthii with their pale blue flowers.
 

Streptocarpus haygarthii

Further along we found a Tridactyle bicaudata subsp. rupestris with abundant flowers and Zaluzianskya angustifolia nearby.

Tridactyle bicaudata

Zaluzianskya angustifolia

On the way back to drop Lindo off at Beacon Hill we found a few Watsonia inclinata and at the office there was a cheerful display of Schizochilus zeyheri.

Watsonia inclinata

Schizochilus zeyheri

Participants: Graham G, Kate G, Lindo T.

Weza Conservation area visit

The months of October through to end of December are our busy season and this year proved to be no exception, with almost no gaps between field trips to allow some catch-up and posting on this blog. Thursday 23rd of November saw Anne and I heading to Weza as members of the Advisory Committee for a relatively recently promulgated Stewardship project. Two main topics were discussed at the meeting; the issues of management of grazing and collection of medicinal plants in the protected area.

After these discussions, the committee set off for a field trip to assess the relative species richness in different grasslands.  In two patches of grassland there has been no agricultural activity apart from cattle grazing and these were compared with an area previously planted with Popular trees but allowed to revert to grassland for the last decade or so. Even to the untrained eye, the differences would have been readily apparent.

All of the areas visited are burned annually as fire-breaks. The pristine grasslands seemed to be in good condition despite these regular fires and sporadic grazing. It was great to see Sandersonia aurantiaca (Christmas Bells) flowering amongst the Ornithogalum princeps and not far away Disa crassicornis and Rhynchosia cooperii in flower.

Sandersonia aurantiaca

Disa crassicornis

Rhynchosia cooperii

However, the most important plant in one of these patches is Dioscorea brownii and this was also in flower - males and female flowers on separate plants. This patch has probably the largest and most accessible population of this Endangered species known to us.

Dioscorea brownii

Surprisingly, on the grassland under recovery, there were two substantial patches of the medicinal plant, Gunnera perpensa, many flowering well.

Gunnera perpensa

At the other pristine patch we found Ranunculus multifidis and Asclepias cultriformis.

Ranunculus multifidis

Asclepias cultriformis

Merensky and KZN Wildlife committee members in the field

It is very gratifying to those of us who know the Ngele area well, that these grasslands and forests will be enjoying active conservation management in future.

Participants: Anne S, Graham G, KZN Wildlife representatives Piet M and Derrek R and several of the Merensky forest managers.

Porcupine trail before the rain - just

A reduced group ventured off down the Porcupine trail in the Umtamvuna Nature Reserve on a day that could not decide whether it should be warm or not. While still on the gentle decline we found Empodium monophyllum.

Empodium monophyllum

Decent into the gorge

Clambering down the steeper path we encountered Aristea gerrardii just opening their inflorescences and an Utricularia peeping out of a seep. The stream was flowing strongly – what a pleasure to hear the gurgle as we descended. Olea capensis subsp enervis and Dais cotinifolia were also enjoying the moisture.

Aristea gerrardii

Once under the forest canopy the Streptocarpus greeted us. Most of our attention was on where we were putting our feet till we got to the bottom but we did encounter fat Pavetta buds about to open. Pseudosalacia streyii, one of our Pondo specials, shyly produced flowers and we even found a few swollen fruits. Knowltonia bracteata kept flashing white stars from out of nowhere.
 

Pseudosalacia streyii fruit

Then we were faced with the river crossing - to gather our thoughts and strength we decided to have lunch before the attempt. While scouting around for a dry route many more Streptocarpus formosus were found carpeting the rocks. These will be a sight to behold in a week’s time as they were mostly in bud. Sadly no dry route was found. So it was off with the shoes and socks and out with the zip lock bags to protect cameras and cell phones.

Streptocarpus formosus

Crossing the Bulolo River

Uschi's venturi funnel

Bare feet on rough river sand and uneven pebbles made the going on the south bank even slower than before. Photo shoots of the Raspalia stream falls and the antics of some who tried to defy the venturi effect in the rocks had others rather worried.

Raspalia falls

The upward path also held little jewels along the way - the fern Anemia dregeana and still vegetative Corymborkis corymbis in the deep shade of a giant Harpephyllum caffrum. Thank heavens for something to keep the eyes and mind from the vertical drop off under foot.

Anemia dregeana

We gathered ourselves again at the edge of the forest to muster strength for the final lap up past the Raspalias. Two of them seem in reasonable shape but sadly the middle one looks like it is no longer alive.

Right at the top, as if a reward, was a happy Satyrium longicauda. We made it to the cars just ahead of the real rain but the earlier gentle drizzle had made the climb quite pleasant.

Satyrium longicauda

All photos by Gail B-W.
Participants: Anne S, Dorothy M, Gail B-W, Maggie A and Uschi T

Flowering now (November 2016)

Agellanthus gracilis

Asclepias cultriformis

Basinanthe sandersonii

Brachycorythis pubescens

Brachystelma rubellum

Calodendrum capense

Chamaecrista mimosoides

Dalechampia capensis

Dais cotinifolia

Dioscorea dregeana

Disa crassicornis

Dovyalis lucida

Eriosema distinctum

Euclea crispa

Eulophia ovalis

Gnidia woodii

Gunnera perpensa

Harveya speciosa

Hesperantha baurii

Ilex mitis

Kniphofia ichopensis

Lichtensteinia interrupta

Lobelia flaccida

Lotus discolor

Manilkara nicholsonii

Monanthotaxis caffra

Moraea graminicola

Mystacidium capense

Mystacidium flanaganii

Nymphoides thunbergiana

Olea capensis subsp. enervis

Olea woodiana

Pachycarpus asperifolius

Pachycarpus concolor

Pachycarpus natalensis

Pavetta lanceolata

Pavetta natalensis

Pelargonium schlechterii

Plectranthus aliciae

Prionium serratum

Ptaeroxylon obliquum fruits

Raphionacme palustris

Sandersonia aurantiaca

Schizochilus zeyheri

Schotia latifolia

Scolopia zeyheri

Senecio albanensis

Senecio erubescens

Siphonochilus aethiopicus. This is a cultivated specimen.
The species is virtually extinct in the wild through collecting for traditional medicinal uses

Sisyranthus imberbis

Streptocarpus haygarthii

Turraea obtusifolia

Turraea obtusifolia fruit

Xysmalobium undulatum

Vitex obovata

Watsonia inclinata

Zaluzianskya angustifolia

Zanthoxylon capense fruits

Zanthoxylon davyi