One of the beauties of travelling is exploring and discovering new places and things. I dropped my mom off in Despatch after a visit and swung through town to pick up a Geocache I hadn't ticked off my list. I parked next to a couple of Coral Trees (Lucky Bean Trees as some people know them) and on my way back to the car noticed a whole bunch of snails on one of the trees. And when I say a…
A Geocaching outing last weekend yielded more than just a cache container. It also resulted in an inspection and photo session of what turned out to be Pine Tree Emperor Moth larvae or commonly known as a Christmas Caterpillar. This guy is probably the size of my index finger so I really wouldn''t want them getting into my garden. In case you wondered where we saw it. This one was somewhere along the Sardinia Bay road although I've also seen…
The flightless dung beetle used to be found widespread in Southern Africa but these days is classified as a vulnerable species and only found in Addo Elephant National Park and a couple of other isolated spots. The beetle is strictly dependent on a number of vertebrates (particularly elephant and buffalo) and when these animals were shot out at the end of the 1800's and beginning 1900's the poor dung beetle population took a huge knock. These days things are slowly getting better…
Some little web critter living in a hole has decided to decorate the outside of his home. The pattern intrigued me as it takes the shape of a normal spiders web yet is flat on the pole with no linking strains. Interesting indeed. Found this while climbing up to The Point in Natures Valley.
Spiders are commonplace in live and everybody have had flatties in their homes that sometimes (not always) get ignored as they are totally harmless. But every now and then one makes their way into the house you just can't ignore, even if they are relatively harmless. Who has never found a rain spider in a corner or behind a curtain and not just about freaked. The Common Rain Spider (Palystes superciliosus) is a species of huntsman spider commonly and widespread found in South Africa. …
Looks can be deceiving. You tend to think young pretty girls would only be interested in fashion, nightlife, tanning on the beach, spending time in the shops and hanging out with their friends. Yes, yes, I know I'm generalizing but I'm trying to get to a point so bare with me. Late last year I hosted a travel blogger visit to Port Elizabeth and the surrounding area and the first blogger of the five to arrive was Rachel Lang, known…
Leaving the office the other day I noticed a yellow spider sitting on a plant close to the door. Don't ask me how I spotted him, I just did. Turns out it was a Yellow Flower (or Crab) Spider. They are of the family Misumena and can either be yellow or white depending on the flower they are hunting on. During early summer young males can be quite small and easily overlooked, but females grow up to 10 mm (excluding legs) with males reach 5 mm…
Everything has a proper name although as far as the animal kingdom goes us humans often just refer to them by the "overarching" or general name. That was the case when I found this locust at Brakkeduine close to Oyster Bay west of Port Elizabeth. It was just a locust. But I started wondering what kind of locust as to not look too stupid when I do my post. Where to start? Well, when it comes to insects I go straight to…
Ek is nie 'n groot aanhanger van spinnekoppe nie, behalwe as ek na hulle kyk deur my kamera. Dan kom ek nogal verbasend naby. Op 'n besoek aan 'n kampterrein langs die Gamtoosrivier het ek een middag gaan stap om 'n paar sonsondergang fotos te neem. Langs die paadjie het ek iets vreemd opgelet en besluit om ondersoek in te stel. Wat van ver af soos 'n bol iets gelyk het was 'n hele zoer baba spinnekoppies.
Going for a walk along one of the trails at Sleepy Hollow outside Port Elizabeth I noticed a black blob in the long grass next to the trial. Now being a curious creature (and always looking for something to photograph), I decided to have a closer look and this is what I found. A whole bunch of little baby grasshoppers.Getting up after one or two pics I noticed for the first time that there was a Praying Mantis in the…