Disturbing

They were found in on our windowsills, and on our floor, in just one day.

14 dead bees - what caused this to happen in only ONE day?

What is the cause?

It could be the drought.

It could be the chemicals sprayed by the farmers on the surrounding fields.

It could be the loss of habitat or the lack of crop diversity ( http://sos-bees.org/causes/ and http://sos-bees.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/BeesInDecline.pdf)

It could be the increasing levels of CO2 (https://e360.yale.edu/features/bee_collapse_co2_climate_change_agriculture) 

Whatever the cause, life without bees will be very, very different.  There will be no pollinating of crops.  No crops, no food.  No food...

And no honey.  Imagine life without honey - whether you spread it on freshly baked bread, stir it in your coffee, or apply it to a cut.

I, personally, do not want to even think, never mind live, on a planet without the bees.

A simple source of water for the bees on a hot summers day

And they need our help.  Do you use chemicals to control pests in your garden, or do you employ eco-friendlier options?  Do you do something as simple as putting out a bowl of water for these important insects to help them cope with the summer heat?

I believe that is the least we can do for these busy, busy bees...

Squeak to the rescue

My solar oven and Foothills DryAway are stored on our front patio near the front doors - for quick and easy access  ;)

Can you see Squeak enthralled with my solar oven?

Squeak was acting very strangely the other day.  She was crouching in front of my covered solar dryer - just staring at it.

Me - even though I try and "gather" the remaining loose bit of the cover under the solar oven, gaps sometimes remain.  So I'm used to frogs skulking in the bottom of the cover - so, even if I'd seen it, I probably would've not given it another thought.

But RMan is more alert than me.

He gently opened the patio door to see what she was staring at.

And saw a head.  A head too big to be a frog.

Something is peeping out from under the solar
oven cover...

He quickly closed the patio door again.  Very quickly.. And said "... "(I can't repeat it I'm afraid - my grandson reads this blog 😂) but I'm sure you can fill in the blanks.

...and when it moves it goes on, and on, and on...

I ran to the bedroom window that overlooks the patio.  And saw something moving in the cover.

And moving.

And moving.

There was no end to the movement...

This was no frog!

Locking Stellar inside (she would definitely have seen it as something for her amusement) and calling on the assistance of our neighbour, J, and some workers he had there, between RMan and the 5 of them they managed to get "it" out from under the cover.  My personal Foothills DryAway was destroyed in the attempt to prevent it from escaping.

RMan's DIY catcher

Then RMan came forward with his hastily manufactured catcher.

What did he catch? 

I.8 mtrs of Cape Cobra

A bloody 1.8 mtr long Cape Cobra.

On our front patio.

Right next to our front patio doors.

And we leave those doors open for at least 15 - 16 hours of every bloody day.

And have tea / coffee on our patio most every morning.

And sun downers there in the evening.

Sitting at a table less than 1.5 - 2.0 mtrs from it.

Well, we used to leave the doors open.  Not any more.

I understand why it was there - it's a very handy spot to nab a frog or two or three.

And just the day before I had been watering the plants on the patio - and even some seedlings which were in a tray on top of the solar oven.

Talk about luck...!

It was obviously not my time to go.

But, thanks to alert Squeak, who normally spends all day, every day sleeping on our bed.  Without her alerting us to the danger who knows what might have happened to either RMan, Stellar or me...

Consequences of Insane

I'm not meaning to harp on the topic, but just want to show you the consequences of below average rainfall last winter, and non-existent rainfall this summer...

8 January 2017

The pic above was taken on the 8th January 2017 - a very sad looking dam indeed. 

There is evidence of nocturnal visitors in the exposed mud

A week later...

The state of the dam on 16th January 2017

What was interesting was to see what nocturnal visitors had left a sign of their visit / search for liquid refreshment in the wet mud.

But, it's not just the land which needs some moisture.  There is another very important part of the equation which is suffering.

Bees - clamouring round a rapidly drying lump of clay on what used
to be the bottom of our dam - seeking any moisture they can find

 Even the bees are battling to find water.

Bird bath / water bowl below the lemon tree.  In times of
 plenty it is a bird bath.  In times of drought, it is merely
a water bowl filled with anything to help retain moisture
 for the birds and the bees

 I have a "bird bath" / water source positioned below a lemon tree - the bees are making use of that.

Close up of the bird's water bowl - I added bits of wood
 chip to aid the birds access to the water, and to try and
 prevent excessive evapouration

Taps, which recently spewed out water, are being requisitioned for whatever remnants recently passed through the damp spout.

Damp taps - another important source
 of moisture for the bees

 This is the state of the land: 

Crisp and dry and depressingly brown... :(

 And, as for the dam...

The state of the dam on the 23rd January 2017.
The white which is visible on the bottom is no longer water,
 but is an indication of the bentonite which we added to
the dam to try and help seal the dam floor

A different angle of the dry and cracked dam floor

The dam is in a very bad way.  It has not run dry since we added the bentonite.  Now - it is a cracked mud hole in the ground.

These cracks in the mud at the bottom of the dam are at least 7 - 10 cms deep

At least the dried out cracks allow us to see the bentonite we added way back in May 2013.

The birds - they're fine.  I have various water bowls scattered around, as well as the sugar water bird feeders which we ensure are always topped up.

Our 8 X 5000 lt rain water tanks?  They certainly helped, but we'd need a 300 000lt reservoir to provide us with enough water to see us through a summer.

Following below average rainfall for quite a while and the distinct lake of manna from heaven this summer, the Western Cape is in a full blown drought situation with less than 40% water left in the dams which supply our towns.  That equates to less than 88 days of water left for the inhabitants of the Cape Town metropole.

Rainfall graph from November 2013 to date

Prayers, rain dances, whatever rocks your boat - please do any of them.

We need rain - urgently...!

Anyone suffer from arachnophobia?

Living on smallholding certainly keeps you on your toes.

This is quite a bland, boring pic -
 until you look closer...

Given the bird nest debris that washes down from our gutters, the other day I was cleaning out the shadecloth filters that we have at the end of our gutter downpipes where they enter the rain water tanks.

Can you spot the spider?
(between the conifer and the water tank)

Whenever I am outside, I keep my eyes peeled for anything that might be out of the ordinary.  And "this" certainly was out of the ordinary...

Not quite on the level of poisonous snakes, nor deadly scorpions, but, given my abhorrence, it fits in with both the aforementioned quite easily... 

I don't per se, have anachrophobia - at least not to the point that spiders cause me to become a quivering heap of jelly legs.  I ten to give them a wide berth and allow them their space, providing they don't invade mine. 

As curious as I was, it appeared to find my
 presence quite interesting too...

Hovering between the gutter downpipe, and the geranium bush (as seen in the first pic) there was this e-n-o-r-m-o-u-s spiders web.  

The web was quite stunning in construction!  And with the raindrops that clung valiantly to every strand, it was spectacular!

The occupant wasn't that evident - until I went closer, then he / she unfurled itself and came out to greet me..

The markings underneath the spider

It had quite magnificent markings, not to mention the web it had created. 

Upper markings

I have no idea what it is, nor what it eats.

It's body was about 2 - 2.5cms long and roughly .5 cm wide.  The length of the legs - I dunno :D

Didn't fancy trying to measure them either ;)

It was not the biggest I've ever seen, but it was not the smallest either.

It was allowed to remain where it was - it intended me no harm - and would, hopefully, employ itself usefully in the garden.

I wonder if it would like / could handle a mousebird or two... ;)

Feeding the feathered wildlife

I feel so sorry for the wild birds in winter.  Seed is at a minimum, it's cold (and wet), and they are busy formulating their eggs for laying in Spring.

Our sugar water bird feeder

So, apart from our sugar water feeder, I try and give them some seed.

Grrrrrrr!  Those chickens just love the exact spot
where I throw the wild bird seed every evening!

I have been scattering it on the grass, but those wily 100% free range chickens and the rooster have found the spot where I normally throw a handful out for the wild birds in the late afternoon.

Their 24 / 7 / 365 source of food - apart from
 the entire garden...!!

Which chases away the wild birds so that they can eat the seed.  Given the gourmet food (laying pellets, sunflower seeds, pearl barley, crushed corn and lentils - not to mention the grated carrot and cabbage as a treat) that the chickens are provided with on a 24 / 7 / 365 basis, it doesn't sit comfortably with me that they need to guzzle the wild birds food as well.

Pretty - but surely a lot of seed must spill on
 the ground?

I have posted before about recycling plastic containers into bird feeders, but the above pic seems to me to be very wasteful.  All that seed on the spoon section that will fall on the ground.

I still want to make
one of these bird
houses one day

The bird house (above) is brilliant - if I could find a 3 litre milk bottle.  The largest we have in the shops in our town are 2 litre bottles.

So, I applied myself, and have come up with the following:

My simple version of a bird feeder which
 doesn't spill seed on the ground (and
 feel the chickens or grow potential weeds!)

It is a recycled 2 litre milk bottle into which I have cut a roughly 7cm (h) X 8cm (w) hole in the middle, and two smaller holes on the front and back of the bottle in order to insert a dowel rod for the birds to stand on to access the seed in the bottle.  I didn't cut a hole either side of the bottle because, with the wind we have here, I was worried that the seed would just blow straight out the other side.

Hanging in the shade, the plastic bottle should last a good long while, but it is so easy to make, that replacing it with another empty milk bottle when it perishes will take exactly 5 minutes.

I have assured RMan that I will not be decorating all the trees on our smallholding with milk bottles - and will limit myself, and the birds, to just two bottles :D

The little overhang certainly prevents the
 rainwater from entering the bottle and the
 dowel rod works well as a food perch

When I cut out the hole I left a small lip on the top to deflect rainwater away from the seed,

The dowel rod pokes right through the bottle
 feeder - and waiting birds take advantage
 of the handy perch close to the food

Also, as I discovered, you need to silicone in both sides of the bottle by the the dowel rod - and the two holes by the neck of the bottle through which the hanging wire is threaded.  Otherwise the rainwater drips through into the seed :(

That 5-odd cms of seed storage is perfectly
 large enough to hold food for 4 - 5 days.
 But, I have even seen a bird inside the bottle
grabbing the last of the seed lol

I placed the feeder in the tree, and I lie not - within 10 minutes the birds had found it, and they haven't left since...

Queueing up impatiently - I wish you could
see / hear the squabbles when a bird - any bird
 takes too long on the dowel rod...

 ... even to the point that huge barney's happen if a bird takes too long and monopolizes the perch for too long.

Some are patient, and some
 just can't wait!

Queueing up wherever they can -
even searching for spilt seed on the
 ground will do...

I have to replenish the seed every 4 - 5 days.  That's not too much of a hassle.

And the thought that local birds go to sleep at night with full tummies makes me happy.

I just wish it was as easy to help all the undernourished, starving children go to sleep at night with a full tummy too...

Feathers of a different kind...

RMan was walking outside when his sharp eagle eyes spotted a couple of these feathers lying on the ground.

A feather from the Cape Parrot?

Whaaaaaaat???

I have never seen a bird with these colours / markings here where we live.

The Cape Parrot is the one in the lower
 right hand corner

Consulting my Robert Birds of Southern Africa book, the only bird I can possibly identify it with is a Cape Parrot.  But, again, I have never heard anyone mention it...

The distribution map shows that although it's
 name Cape Parrot, it does not frequent this
  part of South Africa...

A Cape Parrot - which is not normally found in the (Western or any) Cape??

But there is no other bird in the book which comes even close to those markings / colour.

Naturally, I am keeping my eyes peeled for a repeat visit so that I can confirm the sighting.

But, if any of my readers can help me confirm / re-identify which bird these feathers belong to I would be very grateful.

~

We have been having a plethora of absolutely breath taking sunrises and sunsets - and I have to share these pics I took of the sunrise from the 20th June.

Skies such as this mesmerise me. 

The colours lingered for such a long time -
 almost right up until the sun rose above the
 horizon

And make me realize how starved I was for both whilst we were living in our town house in the valley.  Surrounded on both sides by mountains, view such as this weren't possible.

They provide such an incredible way to start (or end) the day... :D

Bats aren't in the belfry

At the beginning of May I was standing at this window watching RMan who waas busy with the alpacas in the paddock and noticed what I thought was a piece of wind blown litter in this little bush...

This is our east facing bedroom window (so
 that we can lie in ed and watch the sunrise -
 which we've never done lol)

...Irritating.

So, I had to go and remove it.  That's me - OCD.

Can't remember what this bush is called
 but it came with us from our town house -
 t'was a self-seeded baby from the mother
plant

Giving it a good squizz before attempting to remove it, I discovered...

On closer inspection "that" doesn't look like
a piece of litter.

... that it wasn't litter, it was in fact a bat!

That because "it" is a bat!

Out of the belfry!!

I wasn't going to touch it to find out if it was still alive - which it obviously was, because it wasn't there the next day.

I've never heard of bats that don't hide themselves away in the dark during the daylight hours, especially given that this is an east facing wall and it, the bush and the bat would've been in the sun all morning.

Weird! 

Dried pineapple sage

Just before I took possession of my Foothills DryAway I was standing at the kitchen stable door staring out into our back garden - daydreaming.

A movement caught my eye, and, re-focusing my eyes, I spied this beauty on the pineapple sage plant which stand at the entrance to my covered veggie patch.

It was a spectacular Southern Double-Collared Sunbird.

If you click on the image you'll see that the
  Southern Double Collared Sunbiords beak is deeply
 embedded into the pineapple sage flower

He was the reason that I thought to shove an armful of pineapple sage into the DryAway

At the end of the day the armful had reduced down to a cereal bowl full, and...

...30 grams of dried pineapple sage will soon be on it's way to a very special person.  Who can that be...?  ;)