| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Did someone say Strudel? .. not apple but pear :-)
Primate discovery with a difference :-)
Baboons discover new citrus fruit in W.Cape
Photograph by: Paula Bronstein /Getty Images
Credit: Getty Images
Alwyn van der Merwe, production director of ALG Estates near Citrusdal 200km north of Cape Town, said on Wednesday the new fruit has proved to be not only to be sweeter than normal oranges, but will also lengthen the season by at least three weeks.
"Year after year the farm has have been struck by a troop of baboons which descended from the mountains," van der Merwe said.
"The troop always selected one tree amongst thousands of trees in one of our orchards and devoured all the fruit before our season really got going.
"At closer inspection we discovered that the brix (sweetness grade) of this particular minneola, a soft citrus variety, was much higher than the rest of the orchard and that it started bearing fruit at least three weeks earlier than expected."
The farmers then set about grafting some shoots of this tree onto standard root stock and passed it on the Citrus Growers Association (CGA) at Uitenhage where the trees are now being multiplied in greenhouse tunnels.
"This process takes two years and as soon as we get the clearance from the CGA the trees will then be tested in real orchards all over the country for a period of four years before it is officially registered," van der Merwe said.
ALG Estates cultivates 26 different citrus cultivars on 600 hectares from five farms.
The estate boasts the longest citrus season in the country -- 10 months -- and aims to produce citrus all year round within the next four years.
Recently the estate registered a new cultivar, the Swartvlei Late Valencia, which now produces citrus until mid-December.
"We were lucky that the baboons' acute sense of smell led them to this particular tree. It was clearly a case of a spontaneous mutation in the orchard, which would have gone unnoticed were it not for the baboons.
"I'm sure they will have a feast one day when we produce a whole orchard of these early sweet minneolas."
Last year ALG Estates won South Africa's most coveted agricultural prize, the National Farmer of the Year 2010, awarded annually by the association of Agricultural Writers of South Africa.
The estate is known in the agricultural world for its innovation and contribution to the industry.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Are you a twitcher? .. endemic birds that might attract you attention
Cape Vulture
Depending on their itinerary, visiting birders touring South Africa would find it worth their while to attempt to see this species in the Overberg, despite only about one hundred birds remaining here. A common fallacy is that this bird is easy to see in the game reserves in the east of the country, but it is in fact difficult to find except in the Drakensberg mountains, in the far Eastern Cape Province, and in the vicinity of breeding colonies in the Northern Province. The Potberg colony (p.65) is notable as the last existing in the Fynbos Biome, and currently consists of just 32 breeding pairs. This species has declined drastically in South Africa in the past few decades, primarily due to poisoning from stock carcasses laid out by farmers to eradicate vermin.
This is the country’s national bird, although it escapes being a true South African endemic by virtue of a small population on Etosha Pan in northern Namibia. In the Western Cape, the birds occur fairly scarcely in the wheatfields of the West Coast’s Swartland region (see p.45), but are common and easy to find in the Overberg wheatlands. They are especially conspicuous in winter, when breeding pairs congregate into large flocks of up to several hundred individuals. Indeed, this is one of the few rare birds that may have benefited from the destruction of lowland fynbos in favour of the agriculture that emulates its grassland habitat. Driving along the N2 national road east of Cape Town, you are bound to see cranes at the roadside – often close to small farm dams – even before reaching Caledon or Riviersonderend, and they may also be seen along the farmland loops described on p.63.
Isolated in the moist grasslands and lowland fynbos of South Africa, Stanley’s Bustard is currently classified as a subspecies of Denham’s Bustard, whose range extends into East Africa. It has adjusted well to the Overberg wheatlands, particularly those east of Bredasdorp. Though never common, it is readily seen – refer to the main text for likely sites within the Bontebok National Park (p.69) and the Overberg farmlands (p.63). Worth looking out for during spring are the displaying males, which retract their heads, inflate their white throat pouches, and strut about in this voluminous state – an intriguing sight that, from a distance, one might uncharitably liken to a plastic shopping bag caught in the vegetation.
This unobtrusive and little-known species is globally restricted to the narrow southern coastal strip of South Africa, extending as far north as the southern extremity of KwaZulu-Natal. It is not actually a very rare bird in its preferred habitat – dense coastal thicket or afromontane forest – but is rather challenging to see, as it calls only at lengthy and irregular intervals. The call is a short scream, likened by many to ‘Skead!’ in honour of one of the Eastern Cape Province’s great natural historians, C.J. Skead. Closest to Cape Town, it can be found in the thickets of the De Hoop Nature Reserve (p.64) and the forests of Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve (p.69). Further east, it occurs more commonly in the Garden Route forests (p.117).
This species is a recent and localized split of Long-billed Lark (see p.13). It is restricted to the south coast, and is most common east of Bredasdorp (see Farmland Loops, p.63, for details of reliable sites). It is especially easy to locate in spring, when males regularly perform their looping display flights, launched from roadside fence posts and accompanied by a descending whistle. When not calling, feeding birds can usually be found in stubble fields, often near patches of roadside indigenous scrub.
Endemic to rocky areas in the fynbos-covered Cape mountains, primarily at higher altitudes, this species is most easily seen at Sir Lowry’s Pass (p.60), Rooi Els (p.62), Bain’s Kloof Pass (p.81) or, further east, at Swartberg Pass (p.123). However, it will be encountered by hikers on most of the Cape’s mountain ranges. The presence of a group nearby is often first revealed by the piping alarm call of the sentinel bird. As you approach the outcrop where they are feeding, you will see the group members disappear between the rocks or move onto the next outcrop in low, gliding flight. Interestingly, the Cape Rockjumper breeds cooperatively: helpers (probably related birds) assist the parents in feeding the young, a behaviour that has attracted much research attention in this and other species.
This fynbos endemic can be remarkably common in denser mountain fynbos. The call is faintly reminiscent of that of Grassbird but is more repetitive, and is, predictably, the key to seeing the bird. It can be maddeningly skulking, approaching to within a metre or two of playback but remaining well concealed in streamside thicket. The trick is to look for it in (or lure it into) slightly sparser vegetation and keep very alert to birds darting between denser patches and pausing momentarily before weaving into cover. Often, birds will pop up into clear view once, and then disappear to skulk obstinately thereafter, while tantalizingly continuing to call. Accessible sites are Sir Lowry’s Pass (p.60), Bain’s Kloof Pass (p.81), Harold Porter Botanical Garden (p.62), Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve (p.71) and Swartberg Pass (p.123)
Groot Constantia is more than just a great wine estate ..
You have probably visited the wine estate Groot Constantia and thus seen the majestic old manor house once occupied by Simon van Der Stell. I however wonder if you are aware of the unusual circumstances that led to the unusually large roof and windows of this historic building.
In 1792, whilst Hedrick Cloete still owned the farm, he decided to enlarge and improve the homestead. Initially there was a flat roofed gallery behind the front row of rooms. Cloete had the roof of both gallery and rooms removed and replaced with a traditional thatch roof. The new roof however now spanned 14 meters of building, double the width of a traditional house of the time. As a thatch roof requires a pitch of 50 degrees, to remain waterproof, the height of the roof therefore had to be doubled as well. Now that they were doubling the height of the roof, the existing walls would have been far to low to be in proportion, so they extended the height of the walls and the existing casement windows were replaced by tall sash windows. The next problem was that the front gable had to be heightened to match the size of the huge side gables. This left a large blank space above the gable window. Conveniently this was filled by a niche now containing a statue of Abundance with her horn of plenty. It would have been so much easier had Cloete just stuck to tradition but then alas we would not have this majestic building today.