Insectilicious

I wanted to know the name of every stone and flower and insect and bird and beast. I wanted to know where it got its colour, where it got its life - but there was no one to tell me.
- George Washington Carver

Leucocelis rubra - or Amethyst fruit chafer (Identification kindly supplied by Joh - see comments below - thank you Joh!)

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We don't have the same problem today as what Carver had, if we want to know something, we just Google it. But no amount of Googling got me to identify this beetle. At first glance I would've thought it's a Christmas beetle, but the tapered body at the back and iridescent colour leads me to believe that it's a fruit beetle of sorts (besides the fact that it's obviously enjoying this orange I put out on one of my bird feeders!)

We all know the big, yellow and black fruit beetle often found on our fruit trees and this little chap is about half their size.

African fruit beetle - Pachnoda sinuata (Pic from Wikipedia)

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Fruit beetles are strong fliers and can cause fruit and flower mayhem during the course of their day's foraging. At night, they repair to special 'sleeping trees' or else bury themselves in the soil at the foot of the very plants they have been ravaging.

The larvae of fruit beetles feed on decaying vegetable debris and on plant roots. The female of Pachnoda sinuata takes a trick from the dung beetle: she makes several little balls of dung (or compost) and then lays an egg in each of them. The tiny larvae that hatch feed on the contents of these balls, before transforming themselves into pupae. You may find up to a dozen of these little dung balls attached to one another within the warm, moist intimacy of an aromatic manure heap or pile of compost, or in a well-fertilised flowerbed.

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February gifts - Light

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As a citizen of sunny Earth, it's hard not to take light for granted. Light is at once both obvious and mysterious. We are bathed in yellow warmth every day and stave off the darkness with incandescent and fluorescent bulbs.

However, I often sit on my patio at night, switching off the garden lights and lighting my old paraffin lamp, sipping a hot cup of coffee by its soft glow, revelling in the insects and night creatures that appear after dark - huge Emperor moths, weird, unmentionable creepy crawlies, excitement as an Hedgehog snuffles around and, if I'm lucky, the joy of hearing one of my resident Eagle Owls settling on the roof.

I salute you, light, for a lightless world would be a gloomy place indeed!

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Picture taken in my garden in Tarlton (Gauteng, South Africa) - Camera Kodak EasyShare C195 - Back-ground texture by Kim Klassen

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The Midnight Hour

WHY ARE HEDGEHOGS NOCTURNAL?

The hedgehog is well protected from predators by its spiny coat, so there seems to be no reason why it should be active only at night. But, biologically speaking, nocturnal activity has always been the norm for mammals.

The main reason for the hedgehog's night-time roamings is that its food is mostly nocturnal too. The creatures it eats are small invertebrates that are active at night to avoid other predators, or must keep out of the heat of the sun to avoid water loss.
Info from "Everything You Want To Know about Hedgehogs - Dilys Breese"

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The Larder

“Even the most resourceful housewife cannot create miracles from a rice-less pantry.”
- Chinese proverb

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My resident Fiscal Shrike often makes use of the barbed wire fence and the palisade fencing to store her snacks, but a couple of weeks ago I discovered a new larder in my Celtis africana (White Stinkwood) tree - this time a whole baby Laughing dove - I watched over the span of a few days as she fed her family, often returning to pluck some juicy piece for a hungry little mouth. She successfully reared two lovely youngsters and all four of them are spending time in the garden, but not for long - soon the parents will lead them away to find their own territory.
Camera : Kodak EasyShare C195

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“I sometimes think that the act of bringing food is one of the basic roots of all relationships.”
~Dali Lama

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Bulbine frutescens

Bulbinella in my garden, Tarlton, South Africa
Camera : Kodak EasyShare C195
Back-ground texture by Kim Klassen

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(I use the Latin name Bulbine frutescens to avoid confusion as the common names Bulbinella and Bulbine seem to lead to arguments in herb circles. The plant I mean has long thinnish succulent leaves, and spike-like clusters of small yellow or orange star-shaped flowers.)

This wonderful indigenous plant is, like Lavender, an outstanding remedy for minor burns, cuts and abrasions, and insect bites. Simply break off a leaf and squeeze the juice or jelly onto affected areas.

The ease of application makes this an excellent herb to plant with your culinary herbs just outside the kitchen door - not to cook with, but to use for kitchen mishaps like burns and cuts.

The juice of Bulbine frutescens also helps to stop bleeding. Use also for rough and cracked skin and lips, ringworm, and cold sores. Scabies also seems relieved by regular application, but remember that Scabies is caused by a small bug, so any treatment of scabies must be holistic and include thorough laundering and ironing of bedding and clothes (to get rid of family and friends).

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