Dressed for Summer

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.

~ Helen Keller 

I felt all bright and breezy today, so Hedgie's Nature Journal is dressed in brand new summer finery (I hope you like it!). Unfortunately Blogger doesn't provide much of a choice and I'm thinking of somehow customising it myself or getting a Custom Domain which might offer more creative themes. And so is Nature. Bright and breezy I mean, and sporting new summer finery. As the Northern Hemisphere heads into their Autumn, all my trees are sporting new buds and blossoms, new seedlings are popping out and even the Hydrangeas have woken up!

My Chooks are enjoying the sunshine and the new-found greenery. Being free-range, grazing the lawn and eating insects makes out a big part of their diet and while the grass was all brown and dried up, my garden suffered greatly as they ate anything green in sight! The funny thing about my chickens is that they won't eat any greens I prepare for them - I've tried everything, followed recipes from some wonderful chicken blogs, but no go. I've tried hiding it in other food, disguising it and coaxing them to take it from my hand, but they're determined to stick to the lawn. 

I've lined up some chores for this summer and one of them is up-grade my hen house and chicken run. I saw a chicken coup make-over on the internet, complete with little lace curtains in front of the windows and nest boxes. Now isn't that grand!

Another chore on my list (I'm a great list-maker, but at least I DO get through it, most of the time!) will be to landscape the area inside the chicken run. The run and hen house were constructed in a great hurry when I accepted a hen and ten babies as a gift early one morning, with nowhere to house them. An area next to the garage was fenced off and Solly and I started with the make-shift house. 

 A few poles in the ground, a couple of sheets of galvanised sheeting found in my 'scrap heap' and the basic structure was complete.

 
Then came the interior - all that was needed at this stage was some straw for ground-cover and a nesting area where Mommy could feel safe with her babies.

The chicks have all grown up into 8 beautiful hens and two lovely roosters, so now it's time for this 'temporary' arrangement to become a beautiful 'new' addition to my garden. 

Lavender

 

I will be incorporating plants that will be able to withstand their onslaught on anything green and also some shrubs and small trees for some shade. Of course I'll be using Lavender (I like the English Lavender) and Sage as well as Geraniums, which they don't eat.

Sage (Salvia officinalis)

They do have free access to the garden, but on the odd occasion that they have to be kept in, I would like it to be in beautiful and comfortable surroundings.

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Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei)

 

Windmill Palm Sept 2012

Not being a palm tree lover, I nevertheless planted my Windmill Palm in November 2006 on the advice of my local nursery. I like trees that can play host to lots of birds and their nests and as far as I was concerned, palm trees didn't fit this category. I especially dislike Date Palms, but I had my arm twisted, once the nurseryman told me it requires no pruning and is generally pest and disease free, and  although this palm is native to temperate and subtropical mountainous areas of Asia including southeastern China, Taiwan and the Chusan Islands, I agreed to plant the Fan Palm in my bathroom courtyard purely for ornamental display and I can honestly say I'm very glad I did!

Fruit of my Windmill Palm

 Windmill Palm fruit as it opens (this was 3 days after the above photograph was taken)

The Hemp palm or Windmill palm as it is commonly known (Trachycarpus fortunei), are dioecious evergreen palms with a stout, fibre-covered solitary trunk bearing rounded leaves palmately divided into linear segments. 

Male and female flowers are borne on separate plants (so this palm is said to be dioecious). They are densely arranged on 2-3 ft (0.6-0.9 m) long branched stalks called an inflorescence. The windmill palm's bright yellow inflorescence erupts from a packet-like bud in late winter and early spring and is held within the crown. On female plants the flowers are followed in late summer by round or oblong blue fruits that are about 1/2 in (1.3 cm) in diameter. Mine bears the yellow flowers but has never fruited, so I presume it is a male. In older individuals the fibers on the trunk sloughs away to reveal a smooth ringed surface. The Windmill palm is one of the most cold hardy palms available. It is beautifully compact and grows to heights of 20-40 ft (6.1-12.2 m) so no wonder it survived our very frosty winters here in Tarlton!

The coir-like hairy trunk

Now I get to the reason why I say I'm very glad I planted it. It is in full view from where I sit in the bath. This private courtyard is fully walled so in summer the folding-sliding doors are always fully open. From here I have watched the Cape Wagtails (Motacilla capensis) rear several sets of babies, the courtyard always offering a safe haven as they fledge, walking around the courtyard until they can manage to fly over the wall and into the garden. The youngsters would play, giving mock chase to one another, scrounge around for little insects and sometimes wander into the bathroom for a quick inspection. The Wagtails have hollowed out a beautiful chamber in the coir-like fibers of the trunk and lined it with soft grasses and feathers and have been using it for a few of years now, warm and safe from the elements

View of the palm from the bath

My OC Robin also just loves this courtyard, flitting from branch to branch in the palm, to great consternation of the Wagtails, who always try and scare him off but he firmly stands his ground or obligingly moves to the Olive tree for a while.

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The weavers also make use of the long fronds of the palm leaves by snipping off a piece at the base and then flying off, tearing off long strips for their nests as they fly off. At first I was worried that it would damage the palm but it has had no significant effect. And they have provided me with hours of delightful watching as they sometimes struggle with the strips, often firmly clamping it in their beaks and flying backwards, tearing it off after a couple of attempts. I've even watched to birds fighting over the same strip, having a mid-air tug-of-war.

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I can really recommend this lovely palm for your garden, trouble free, doesn't take up much space and South African birds love it!

The Palm in 2006 when I planted it (far right, in case you miss it!)

 My palm in 2009

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Journal of a Season

“I am enamoured of my journal!” 

- Sir Walter Scott 

For half the year my garden lives a life of it's own. Then it's Spring and I can savour the blooms of successes - and cut my losses. Anything that gets killed by Winter doesn't get re-planted, I'm not a sucker for punishment! 

Pic from an old 1970's 'Victoria' magazine 

 I try and record most of everything that goes on in the garden from new plantings to removing dead items, which birds are new or just visiting or nesting, deaths and births, what the chickens or hedgehogs are up to and I also do sketches of new lay-outs in my Gardening Journal or new features I might want to add. 

This way I get a preview of how it might look and also scribble reminders of when the Bougainvillea or Clematis has to be trimmed back. It's really a scrapbook-in-progress of my house and garden combined, also containing new building and decorating projects as well as (on-going!) renovations. 

Insects play a large role in my garden and I have quite a collection of beetles, moths, butterflies and scorpions. And something some people find a bit weird - I have a large collection of skeletons and skulls of rats, birds and lizards. Whenever I find something dead, I place it in a bucket, wait for it to decay and then pick out the skeleton, wash and clean it up and leave it in bleach for a couple of days. Voila! A perfect specimen, which I showcase in plastic boxes. 

Exoskeleton of a scorpion I found in my garden. 

A few skulls from my collection (below) - the left one is that of a Kestrel, the two top right ones are from rats and the bottom one on the right is from a Laughing Dove. 

My journal also serves as inspiration for some of my sketches and watercolours, like the White Eye that frequents my garden on a regular basis. 

Cape White-Eye - Pen and ink sketch with colour wash in my Moleskine 'Nature' Journal 

My favourite pencil (below) for jotting down notes is made of a twig with lead inserted into the front. 

Writing things down not only acts as a 'release', reducing stress but also allows for a moment of contemplation that allows a clearer perspective on events to emerge. In high school my friends would make fun of me - you're doing your man diary again! So I was always trying to translate experience into words. 

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OC Robin up-date

My OC Cape Robin (Cossypha caffra) – keeping an eye on me while I fill up the feed tables

I still have not been able to capture a pic of my OC (Obsessive Compulsive) Robin in my kitchen – he’s as fast as lightning when he sees me approach. Doesn’t leave in a panic, but just fast enough so that I can’t get a photo. He’s also taken to sitting on the back of one of the dining room chairs and singing his full song, the whole repertoire! The song consists of variable short passages of musical notes, always starts with low slurred whistle cherooo-weet-weet-weeeet. Couldn’t believe my ears when I heard it so close-by from my studio and, upon investigating, there he was, singing to his heart’s content!

Another discovery I’ve made is that I now have two Robins in the garden. My Robin was sitting near the feed table and I heard another one higher up in the tree and I am hoping that it’s a female. Now I know that, most often, it is usually the males that sing to announce that they hold a territory. The song warns other males to keep away, while enticing females to come closer. The song itself also identifies the species of the singer: it does not do to fraternise too closely with the wrong species!

Although the basic tune, tone and volume are always the same, subtle differences exist between individuals. In fact every individual has a unique voice. Each Robin recognises its neighbour’s voice exactly as we humans know a friend over the phone. This is very useful to a Robin because a quick early morning burst of song tells everyone who is who, no need to spend unnecessary energy on old established relationships. On the other hand, if a newcomer appears there will be much jousting in defining new boundaries.

And now I’ve discovered something new – he likes apple! Caught him snacking on the fruit on one of the feed tables and I only managed to get some photos through the lounge window – as soon as I went (slowly) outside, he flew up into the tree, keeping a vigilant eye on me. 

Hoping that Robbie might choose the 'Money Plant' hanging on my patio to nest in.

I have been told that Robins will sometimes nest in a pot plant inside the house. Then arrangements must be made to have some opening where they can go in and out. That’s not a problem here, my lounge door is always open, so I’m just hoping I will be that lucky enough as to have him bringing his wife inside soon. The Cape Robin-Chat is monogamous unless its mate dies. In the event of a partner dying Cossypha caffra will seek out a new mate.

Robbie's snack of mince meat set out on the kitchen counter

Nico Myburg of ‘VillageLife’ reports, “One could write a whole story about the nesting sites chosen by robins. In the wild they will nest low down in thick bush, or low down in a bushy tree. Once they move into your garden, which they seem to prefer, being the first bird to move in where people have settled, they may nest in hanging baskets of ferns, in pot plants or empty baskets lying in a corner on the stoep. There are a number of records of robins building their nests in a jam tin containing nails or screws, inside a discarded shoe in the garage or in a pile of fire wood. One nested in an open drawer with old clothes in.”

The lampshade (with proof of his visits) where Robbie spends a lot of his time - will have to replace the shade soon!

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The darling buds of Spring

A bird in the hand is a certainty, but a bird in the bush may sing. 

- Bret Harte 

South Africa is famous for its sunshine. A subtropical location, moderated by ocean on three sides of the country and the altitude of the interior plateau, account for the warm temperate conditions so typical of South Africa – and so popular with its foreign visitors.

It's a relatively dry country, with an average annual rainfall of about 464mm (compared to a world average of about 860mm). While the Western Cape gets most of its rainfall in winter, the rest of the country is generally a summer-rainfall region. At the same time, temperatures in South Africa tend to be lower than in other countries at similar latitudes – such as Australia – due mainly to greater elevation above sea level.

September is the beginning of spring in South Africa. There’s excitement in the air as nature starts turning green, blossoms appear on trees, insects come alive and days get warmer. There's plenty to see and do when you visit South Africa in September and October. Babies are born in the game reserves, northern hemisphere birds start arriving.

One such arrival is the Red-chested Cuckoo (Cuculus solitarius - Piet-My-Vrou) whose beautiful call can start as early as 4am in the morning and actually, I've even heard him 12 o'clock at night - calling, calling - trying to find his mate perhaps, who also made the long journey from the Republic of the Congo or Sierra Leone, Somalia? 

As we move into the summer months more and more species will arrive here to take advantage of the prolific food supply. Already the Wahlberg Eagles are back in early August. As an Intra African migrant they don’t have to travel far and are not away for long. 

Most birds, especially those that attempt non-stop or very long flights, have to build up fat reserves before hand. These fat deposits are a response to hormonal changes that in turn, are a response to environmental changes. Some birds may even double their body weight such is the demand of this hazardous journey. Journeys of 10 000km are not unusual while the longest round trip is undertaken every year when the Arctic Tern flies a staggering 50 000 km. The larger birds like raptors and storks migrate short distances between stop off points and do not need to fatten up before leaving. The Steppe Eagles that come all the way from the Russian Steppes (Palaeartic-African Migrants) arrive here in November/December. These birds tend to fly over land; they need the warm air of the thermals to fuel their flight as well as the food available only from land. Many of these birds, including the Lesser Spotted Eagles, Booted eagles, Storks and Pelicans fly in huge concentrations over Israel and Gibraltar between their nesting grounds in Eurasia and their non breeding sites in Africa twice a year. Their flight plan is longer than a sea route and man-made factors add extra risk. 

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