THE SECRET WORLD OF SMALL THINGS

NIGHT STALKER

The Red Scorpion is one of the most dangerous of the desert scorpions found in Africa. A sting from this one usually means an short stay in hospital.

The Yellow Scorpion is one of the most feared as a sting from this one usually results in a visit the emergancy room of the local hospital.




STRIPED GECO

The desert striped geco is beautifully camoflarged here this one is trying to catch the moth that the light has attracted.



                                                                                                       

WAXY FLOWER OF ALOE

A design of beauty soly for the benefit of the bee that it is designed to attract. Lovery yellows blues and orangy reds, most alluring and irristable if you are the bee.

POLLINATOR AFRICAN BEE


Here the system has worked.

ANTS POLLINATING

Different flower with a tiny oriface to attract a very small helper an ant.




END OF CYCLE



This bunch of flowers whos cycle is almost complete as it is just the seed that need to be produced as the bees ants et al have done their jobs.





NORMANDIEN PASS

After the Easter festivities and all the other goings one over the last month i have finally finished processing the photos of a very rarely used pass these days. It is in pretty good shape and certainly worth the detour in the route from Johannesburg to Durban.
Basically you leave the comfort of the N3 highway just after Villiers and then head off in the direction Vrede and them Memel. At Memel i discovered that a GPS can lead you astray the machine took me on the route very much less well traveled there were parts where i doubted that i was even on the right road. the northern route from Memel to Normandien is the much more adventures route as you need to negotiate the Roodepoort pass as well great fun but not a very well maintained road at all.

The road to Roodepoort Pass this part very deceptive it just gets worse from here.

  I know that these are landscape photos but it is one of the most beautiful places that it is has been my privilege to visit this is what i would call the forgotten parts of the land that time has been kind to and left alone here one can find real piece and quite. If you are not used to it it especially if you live in a large noisy and very busy community. On this road trip once i turned onto the road to the pass for the next six and a half hours i only saw one other person and he was about a kilometer away on a horse.

Cosmos flowers normally found at this time of year in the country

Meadow of Cows and Hay Bales

Gravel Road to Normandien Pass

Start of Roodepoort Pass

 There were times that i was not even sure i was on the correct road. As there was very little difference between the farm road and the provincial road. Quite often the farm road was better maintained, which could be rather confusing.

Roodepoort pass

View back along Roodpoort Pass

View of the road to Normandien Pass

View along The Escarpment

The rock outcrop that you stand on here is called the arc. I must add that one needs to be cautions here as there are no fences guard rails etc and off the edge of the Arc is about a 1000 foot drop straight down.

View from the Ark

A view from the Freestate into Kwazulu Natal over some ancient deciduous forest. Once the whole of This part of the world would have been covered with these trees.

Start of Normandien Pass

Gravel section of pass

Strip tracks on the pass

Jet Trail

Wagon Trail

 I just thought that this was nice contrast that epitomizes the disposable life style we live today, the wagon tracks are 100 plus years old and the jet trail lasted half an hour then was gone.

It is funny what can go through a persons mind when there are no distractions while drinking some coffee and staring at the grooves that were worn on the rock.
I could imagine the wagon groaning under the weight of produce going for sale, with a 16 ox team bellowing as drovers whips cracking and the whistles of the guide as he pulls a leather rope attached to the nose ring of the lead ox.

BATTLING THE INVADER

CRESTED BARBET

A couple of  days ago i heard banging and scratching on one of the widows in my house.

Investigation the noise i found this Barbet at war with his image in the window.

He would sit on the garden wall and growl at the bird in the window, while winding himself up for the attack.

The Call to Arms

The Pep Talk

After much dancing up and down the wall a final warning was uttered !!!!

The Attack

The attack then commenced with much wing flapping, squawking and scratching as the interloper was given his marching orders. W hitch would you believe is just ignored how dare the bird.  

Looking For Support

Once exhausted the Barbet would hang on the window and look at me as if to say well why don't you help. 

Plotting the Next Step

Finally he would then strut up and down the window sill as if the point out that he was the boss.

this whole process repeated it self over and over again till i changed the angle of the window by opening it slightly. 

Have a great day and enjoy this beautiful bird.

Lions - Wild Dogs and others

 Something other than birds here a bit of the African Wild life.

Part of a pride of white lions

These are a Male and Female resting in the shade.

Pride females returning from the stole around.  

Pride Male

This male is one of a pair of pride males here he is watching the pride females as they go exploring. These guys have the system down to a fine art sent the Women to do all the work then stole over and dish out the orders. Otherwise they are doing what Lions do best sleep and wait around. 

Red Hartebeest

European Bee Eater

Immature Diederik Cucoo

Nabbed lunch big fat juicy worm.

African Wild Dog

Ever felt like you are being sized up for the menu, well that was the feeling i got while photographing this male.

Wild Dog

This dog was just cheerful sole as his face shows. But this all changed when he spotted me as the photo above shows. 

Nothing like a mid morning nap.

These dogs are part of a small pack of  9 dogs when found them they were mostly sleeping.

Pride Male

He is also carefully watching the females as they wander around.

Female Rino and Calf

Sable Antelope

Watching me very carefully before deciding that i was fairly dodgy then galloped off. Hence one photo one opportunity once.  

Rufasnaped Lark

A Fly

What type of fly i don't know except that he had these monster eyes. It Posed for a while then flew off and i just have  this rather interesting photo of it.

Electric Light Display

 Friday night nature was at its best following a week of high temperatures during the day and some rain during the nights then on Friday the the finale a light show of note and then a thunder storm of epic proportions.

But then this is Africa nothing in half measures.  

Electric Light Display

 To give you an idea of how far away these strikes were i was using a 50mm lens and I never heard any thunder from these Lightening strikes. This display was taking place at approximately 9pm local time in Johannesburg.

For the photographers out there the settings used are as follows 50mm Lens, F 14 aperture, Bulb setting, 25 second exposure, ISO 80. The problem with using bulb setting is that if you expose for 25 seconds the the write to SD Card is 25 seconds, this resulted in me missing about two or 3 strikes while saving each shot.

This one ripped through the sky and then arced down

Stunning Display

Nature At its most Awesome

Tree Fungus

This Fungus was growing at the base of the tree just shapes and colours caught my attention. I decided to photograph it before some dimwit decides to break it which happens more often than not these days.

Egyptian Geese Take Off

Sitting in one of the local hides at the botanical gardens the only activity was this pair of geese here they decided to take off and this can be a bit of an experience if you are not used to it as these are fairly large birds and the dam fairly small. This results in the visual effect of them flying right at you and it can feel like they are going to come right through the viewing slot.

Malachite Kingfishers came to Play

This post is mainly of Malachite Kingfishers both adult and juveniles or immatures. The Bittern, Reed Warbler and a Waxbill also have a guest appearance.

Saturday was an early start to get to Marievale  bird sanctuary which is a very large area near the Gold Mining town of Nigel on the east Rand. The wet land was created by the mines when they pumped the water from their underground workings.Some of these mines are still in operation at the present time so the wet land is still being filled from this pumping. Land as far as i am aware was turned into a conservancy by the mine owners and as such the whole community has benefited from it.

Bittern

This is a rather delicate balancing act while fishing.

Common Waxbill

Immature Malachite Kingfisher

Caught Lunch

Immature Malachite Kingfisher

The image above is of the immature bird as can be seen from the colour of the bill and feet.

Fly by

The immature Kingfisher has a dark coloured bill and feet, while the mature has the very distinctive red bill and feet. As one can see from the photo below.

Snack Time

Botched Landing

Purple Swamp Hen

Reed Warbler

Wiskered Tern

Common Mongoose

The common mongoose or as it is known locally as the Red Mongoose, these creatures can be very shy and most often they are seen fleetingly as they rush off to safety usually away from humans. So i felt very privileged to be able to photograph this one as it posed quietly then left in a very dignified way not the usual mad dash.