The Eagle has Landed

In more ways than one

• Tony Rebelo and Scott Loarie have achieved a miracle, as all our data migrates from iSpot on to iNaturalist.The first lot of observations came though on Thursday evening.It will take approximately a month for them all to be in place. The work and dedication that made this possible is difficult to quantify and we are hugely grateful.In addition, the help, support and encouragement we get from Tony keeps our noses to the grindstone and enjoying it.We are delighted with iNat and I’ve no doubt that it’s going to be a great boost to all the “citizen scientist” conservation initiatives.

• The sight of Dioscorea burchellii (Vulnerable) after years of hunting!Johan Baard’s pinpoint location, his maps and photos, his drawings done on the Sanparks meeting agenda on Wednesday, all contributed to our finding it at last.Dominique was wonderful and drove us almost to the spot.The excitement was huge when we found a track leading up into thick Fynbos growing in a seep surrounded by Cliffortia odorata, with our target plant entwined in the vegetation.And the cherry on the top – Bill spotted one plant that was flowering.

We had a fabulous day. First, we had a quick look at a controlled burn site near the old Church and then spent the rest of it driving and walking up to the Uitkyk Point with Gerrit, Thabang and Terence. When Terence was at Saasveld at NMU, Mike was his lecturer and they were delighted to meet again. Terence is the Assistant Section Ranger. Gerrit has been at Goudveld for 11 years and was a mine of information (if you’ll excuse the pun). You’ll remember that Goudveld was an old mining town and some of the buildings are still there to be seen. We very much enjoyed Thabang and are hoping that she will be able to join us on many field trips in the future. An added bonus was a clump of three Gladiolus sempervirens (Rare) that Nicky saw on the drive down from Uitkyk. It was a wonderful day, so thank you all. Goudveld is doing a controlled burn in the near future. We wish them all the best with this necessary, but very stressful undertaking.
Di

Dune Molerat with WAGS
HAT Evie – joined the WAGS hike on Wednesday. A delightful morning’s walk through the “Dune Scrub” and over the dunes between Rondevlei and Swartvlei. A special morning – after rain the day before. The plants sparkled with rain drops and sunshine. Today easy walking conditions - No paddling! – we have found previously, that parts of the path get submerged during very high tides and high river water. Sadly, the Brunsvigia orientalis are all over – just a few seed heads here and there. My favourite blue on the daisy - Felicia echinata -very evident. Pink Erica discolor – much in evidence, as well as numerous white Metalasia muricata, and white Phylica bushes – studded with pink stars. To end the day – a gorgeous Protea tree – flowers/ with involucral bracts in brownish- rust coloured pink. Outramps Marge – says “Would this be Protea susannae” ( NT)?? I hope so. (stunning photo, but planted and shouldn’t be there – ed)
Evie

Walking Fest – Doringrivier
On Good Friday, I took part in the Garden Route walking festival as a walk leader for the first time. The weather forecast was bad for Friday and for a while it looked like the walk would have to be cancelled. I had twelve people booked but two cancelled on Friday morning, literally cold feet?

The remaining ten set out with me from the farm below the Doingrivier Nature Reserve. Most of the group were tourists, mixed with some locals, one of whom had driven 100 kms to be there. The weather in the Southern Cape can always be relied on to be changeable, so we set off in soft mist, and trudged up the aerobic hill to the gates. My conclusion: this was a fit bunch of people and I had better hustle!

I then gave a short talk about CREW and explained what we do and why we do it, the recent history of the Reserve, fynbos and how fire affects it, and identified a few of the plants around us. As we started the long climb to the beacon, the mist thickened and we had to close up as nobody had done the trail before, and I didn't want to lose anybody.

Luckily as we reached the beacon the mist lifted to the North and we had a wonderful view of the Swartberg Mountains in the distance. Lots of impressive photos were taken at Andre's rock. We then started to zigzag down the mountain path. The weather had cleared so the hikers were able to enjoy the views up the valley. We stopped off at the pools for lunch, nobody swam but we did put our feet in! We returned to the cars at 3.00pm after a wonderful day on one of my favourite trails.
Marge

Our focus for the next couple of weeks is probably going to be mapping all the locations of Mimetes chrysanthus on the western head of Perdepoort and exploring the eastern head in case it is hiding somewhere there. We have looked before and never found it to the east. Maybe this time we'll be lucky. On Friday, we will concentrate on the Eastern Head of Perdepoort after contacting Gus du Toit for permission.
Hamba Kahle.
Groete en dankie
Di Turner
The Outramps CREW Group
Southern Cape

Abbreviations Glossary
MCSA – Mountain Club of South Africa
MSB - Millenium Seed Bank based at Kew in the UK
WIP – Work in Progress
HAT – High Altitude Team
LOT – Lowland Team
SIM – Somewhere in the Middle Team
WAGS – Wednesday Adventure Group
VB – Vlok Boekie “Plants of the Klein Karoo” and our Plant Bible
ITRTOL – Another thread “In The Rich Tapestry Of Life”(It describes a challenging situation, usually to do with the Buchu Bus)
ITFOT – In the fullness of time
WOESS – Fair Weather Hiker
FMC and JW – too vulgar to translate, but the equivalent is “Strike me Dead” An expression of surprise and delight on finding a new “Rare”
Kambro – same as above
Fossick – A meter per minute, scratching around looking for rares
SIDB – Skrop in die Bos – Another name for a field trip, this one coined by Prix
BAFFING – Running round like a blue-arsed fly
SYT – Sweet Young Thing - Anyone under the age of 40
TOMB – Get a move on
Mayhem - Needless or willful damage or violence
SESKRYNG – “Sit en staan kry niks gedaan” ,with thanks to Brian
SOS – Skelms on Scramblers
FW – Idiot
BOB – Another name for the Buchu Bus when she’s misbehaving.
CRAFT – A symptom of Old Age
DDD - Metalasia tricolor (Damned Diabolical Daisy)
VP – Vrekplek – Retirement Village
Qàq – Self-explanatory Inuit word describing some of our local problems
Mr Fab – Our Fabaceae specialist, Brian Du Preez – originally Boy 1
Muisvoel -The Mathematician – Peter Thompson
Boy 2 – Kyle Underwood who works on Orchids and is still at school
Sharkie – Finn Rautenbach – Our latest SYT is a surfer in his spare time
Sicko – Someone who suffers from Car Sickness. With 4 in the Group, allocating seating in the Buchu Bus is tricky
VAG – Virgin Active Garage, which is our meeting place when we head north
MATMUE – Meet At The Mall Under E - Meeting place when we head West
WG – Waves Garage in Wilderness East. - Meeting place when we’re going east.
VU- Vulnerable
DDT – Data Deficient and Taxonomically ?
NT – Near Threatened
EN – Endangered
CR – Critically Endangered
PE – Presumed extinct
LC – Least Concern
TBC – To be Confirmed
TLC – Tender loving care
JMS – An expression of absolute disdain
FOMO – Fear of Missing Out
Milk – the fruit of the vine
Condensed Milk – Scotland’s finest export
Full Cream Milk or Fat Milk – Any product of Humulus lupulus eg. Milk Stout
Milk of the Gods – Rooibos and Brandy
Milk Shake - Sparkling Wine
NS – Species of conservation concern new to the Outramps
PS -Priority Species allocated to the Outramps by our CREW Cape Co-ordinator , Ismail Ebrahim
iNFD – iNaturalist for Dummies as compiled by Sally
Mizzle – Mist and drizzle combined. A regular feature of George in the ”good old days”.
FE – Fire Ephemeral – only appears immediately or after a couple of years after fire
Squirrel – aka President Ramaphosa
WOG – Wrath of God – eg. incurred when you put a young Pine tree on iNat as Leucadendron album
Skedonk - A banger - old, battered motor car more than 30 years old

Posted on April 16, 2018 05:37 AM by outramps-tanniedi outramps-tanniedi

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