Drizzly Sunday Flower Walk

It has drizzled all day, and started raining with a vengeance just after we got home! However, that didn't stop us from our walk. The dogs wouldn't give us a moment's peace if we didn't, anyway!

The Waterblommetjies Aponogeton distachyos are out on the Experimental Farm dam.

A more general view:

We wanted to check up on the development of the buds on the plant we have been watching for weeks, but on the way found these. We're not sure what they'll turn out to be.

Close up of the bud:

Here's some healthy looking re-sprouting from what might be a Cape Myrtle Myrsine africana.

Here's that grass again, the flowers ever more prolific!

Still it's only the Wachendorfias with the curly leaves growing flat on the ground which are out, and there are plenty of them. Those growing upright show no signs yet of any buds forming.

Here's our mystery plant, looking as if it's going to be a Satyr Orchid, one of the Satyriums.

Close up of the bud:

Open flowers on the Othonna heterophylla are still eluding us! We need some sunny days!

Up at the top, visibility was limited!

Back in the unburned section, there was a Brunia which was worth going off the path for! It was completely covered in these white balls.

At the ruined railway cottages, this Prickly Pear Opuntia always has one or two flowers out, best photographed in overcast conditions.

One wonders how the spiders manage on an electric fence, no problem, it seems!

We're clearly entering an exciting time!

A :-)

Cold and Wet Sunday Flower Walk

The wind was straight from the South Pole and we had a shower at the highest, furthest part of our walk! However, it takes more than that to shake off your hardy Flower Walkers!

I had a feeling we would find no other colour than green on our walk, so I snapped the Prickly Pear Opuntia at the ruins of the Railway Cottages.

Prickly Pear Opuntia

The re-growth all over is really impressive especially up close. From a distance the hills still look dark grey. But views like these give us an idea of the Spring we can expect:

Lots of bulbs coming up!

We're not sure what they are, but we're pretty sure we remember a pink Watsonia borbonica here:

We think this is a pink Watsonia borbonica

All the Agapanthus walshii plants we remember are coming back, in most cases, invigorated.

Agapanthus walshii

These Fungi we will have to look up or put on iSpot; growing in the cracks of a rotten pine stump.

Unknown fungus

We think (hope!) this is a Liparia splendens, coming back with a bang!

Liparia splendens? 

A Daisy?

Daisy? 

Another Daisy?

Another Daisy, but different? 

We thought these would be tightly closed; our 'new find' from last week, Oxalis polyphylla.

Oxalis polyphylla

This is re-growing in a crack in the rock:

Rhus / Searsia? 

Last week, Dominic told us that if the leaves were growing in threes, it was a strong indication that these are Rhus / Searsia:

Three leaves

... and Pat said that if one folds a leaf and gets a white stripe when folded back flat, it would be a further indication to particular Searsia. But I forgot to fold it! And forgot which one anyway!

But this is definitely something else, maybe the Cape Myrtle Myrsine africana that Dominic suggested:

Cape Myrtle Myrsine africana?

We're finding plenty of them, and the leaves are pointed and grow opposite one another in pairs.

We're still perplexed by these Wachendorfias with curved leaves growing flat on the ground:

Wachendorfia, but which one?

Just 35 paces from the one above, are these which we are pretty sure, are Wachendorfia paniculata:

Wachendorfia paniculata, we think!

We know the W. thyrsiflora is the tall one in river beds, and there's W. brachyandra and W. multiflora, and that's it! Maybe the curved flat ones are W. paniculata which got hotter in the fire?

This is going to be interesting!?

Wait and see!

Just before the rain came, we saw this strange phenomenon; clouds of vapour coming up from the forest!

Clouds of vapour coming out of the forest, just before the rain

The Eikenhof Dam should start filling now that irrigation has stopped.

:-) A

Gradual regrowth, with fungus, Sunday Flower Walk

I was at Mostert's Mill in Cape Town on Saturday and spotted this amongst the roses:

Magpie Fungus Coprinopsis picacea from the top

I sent it in to iSpot and the consensus is that it is a Magpie Fungus Coprinopsis picacea.

... and from the side

Here's another type of fungus we found on the farm. Colin Ralston on iSpot (kindly!) suggests it might be a Russula

Russula (?)

Russula (?) up close

This picture shows the gills

In the unburned area, this Slangbos which I think is Stoebe plumosa / Seriphium plumosum was in flower with tufts of white fluff:

Slangbos Seriphium plumosum (?)

It looks as though the bunches of brown cones are buds which take turns to all open at the same time.

Flower detail

These Swollen Restio Beetles Pseudorupilia were at it again:  

Swollen Restio beetles Pseudorupilia

We're wondering about these Wachendorfias, with leaves growing radially, so curved and so close to the ground. Is it as a result of the fire, perhaps?  

Wachendorfias growing unusually, or are they different from W. paniculata?

Dominic has suggested that this is re-growing Cape Myrtle Myrsine africana. He says the red stems help with diagnosis. These leaves look more spear-shaped than those on the web, so I'm not too sure.

Is this Cape Myrtle Myrsine africana?

This, again, looks different. We are going to have fun identifying them all!

If so, what is this? 

It's disappointing to see these aliens growing in such profusion in the wetter spots. It's astonishing that the seeds are so prolific even so long after the introduction of biological controls! We pulled up hundreds, then gave up!

Hundreds of aliens growing in the damp spots :-( 

This had us confused, we even wondered if it was Eucalyptyus, but there was no smell from a crushed leaf.

Not sure what this is!

It was growing in a carpet of yellow Oxalis, closed because it was gloomy.

Yellow Oxalis in the still-standing but burned forest

The pods of these burned King Proteas Protea cynaroides are picture-perfect!

These seed pods of the King Protea Protea cynaroides have dispersed all their seeds

How's this for a row of Agapanthus walshii? It's as if they really needed a fire! There were perhaps 4 plants here before.

Agapanthus walshii

Still some way from home on the way back, we saw four white birds flying in to the dam on the experimental farm which is very empty at the moment. We thought they were Sacred ibis, but something didn't look quite right. Sure enough, three were Spoonbills!

A Sacred Ibis and three Spoonbills

Last week, on the bank we saw this fresh spoor; the lack of claw-marks makes it a dead ringer for the African Clawless Otter Aonyx capensis:

Spoor of African Clawless Otter

:-) A