Earth-Touch Research Blog

Put a Canon 550D in the hands of a technophobe and get…

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:19:44 PDT

I’m no camera professional - far from it. I’ve been devoted to my Canon S3 IS which has done me proud ever since I got it. It’s given only the best in the icy Antarctic and super hot Botswana. Sure the megapixels are on the low side but I don’t need to blow up my images to billboard size. I’m also not very technical. My camera has some funky features, but usually when trying to get a picture of an animal, I don’t have time to mess with settings when there’s a once-in-a-lifetime scene playing out in front of me. I usually revert to preset favourites and focus on getting across what I see.

But there’s a new camera out…

...The Canon 550D. It’s just been voted camera of the year.
And it shoots full HD video.
...and I got to borrow one for the weekend and go to Hluhluwe-Umfolozi and test it out. I mean, who would say no?

So here’s a couple of things I found while using this camera. If you’re a professional photographer, you may scoff, but if like me you love a bit of photography but are not on a first name basis with a proper SLR camera, this could be useful. All the pictures here are exactly as they came from the camera - no touching up, cropping or corrections of any sort.

1. Figure out how to switch off the damn automatic flash when using automatic or semi-auto settings. Animals tend to have reflective eyes...and they don’t always reflect red like ours meaning -no handy red-eye program to change them back.

2. Birds move incredibly fast - at all times. Change settings and you’re likely to miss them unless you’re a Pro. The 550D handles speed really well though. This francolin was running faster than a cheetah, and on sports mode you get a nice slight movement blur around the subject but everything else is crisp.

3. Warthogs make great subjects. They’re not as fast as francolins and they have great hairstyles which are very amenable to backlighting. I actually managed to set the ISO on this one and manually focus.

4. Flowers don’t run away. You can take your time and really get to know the different settings. This impala lily’s flowers come across incredibly intensely. Nice colour control in the landscape setting.

5. A dull cloudy day; hulking great black animals in amongst brown earth and rocks? I was impressed with the depth in this picture. The light appears to be softened while contrasts are pushed.

6. Better results on controlled autofunction with the flash OFF.

7. One of the best lauded features of this camera and the one that makes me think it would be nice to have, is its capacity to take photos in very low light conditions. This is one thing that my S3 IS fails at and produces highly noisy images. In the very first rays of dawn we found this lion. Very lucky. This is a rubbish picture though. But I was making a bad decision. I had the lens (55-250mm) set to autofocus, and it was struggling with any movement. In this pic it had focused on the plants in the foreground - but even when I got the focus on the lion, it was blurred.

Once I switched to manual focus (which is really not a mission), the results improved dramatically and I got a rather decent photo of said lion. It’s not going to win any awards, but for a shy lion, in half dark, it’s a perfectly good shot for someone who’s figuring out the settings.

Overall I have to (grudgingly) admit that this is a rather lovely camera and might just be better than my old faithful. There are a few annoying features - like if you change your settings on certain functions and the camera sits inactive for a 30 seconds, it switches itself off and you then have to reset everything. That can be changed I’m sure, I just haven’t got that far in the manual. The same seems to apply for the movie settings although I need to test that out properly still. So won’t comment on movies yet. The one thing that it appears you can’t switch off is the shutter sound. For someone who has to sneak silent images while movie cameras are running, this is not good. But is there anyone other than a handful of people who have that situation? I’m only just starting out with this beast, but I am rather drawn to it. I’m sure with a few more trial days it will become as familiar as my old camera, and then the mild frustrations will be a thing of the past.

Is conservation the realm of the rich?

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 23:25:49 PDT

If you’ve got internet, you probably have a fridge with food in it. In fact you probably have a fridge - and electricity to run it, and a stove to cook stuff. And nice shiny taps that gush crystal clear water from them in copious amounts - both hot and cold.

Your fridge might be an energy efficient one and you might adjust your geyser settings so that your hot water isn’t scalding or heated 24 hours a day. You might prefer to microwave certain foods rather than heat up a stove. Every little saving counts when you’re trying to be energy efficient, because climate change is a big thing and you want to reduce your carbon footprint. You might sit and drink your fair trade coffee while enjoying the birds flitting around your indigenous garden.

Perhaps you only buy sustainably caught fish and organic vegetables. If you’re like me you stare distraught at news of football fields of Amazon rainforest being chopped down, of another dead rhinoceros lying in a pool of blood minus its horn, of stories of albatross chicks being fed plastics by their parents, of whales and birds suffocating in a sea of crude oil.

But what if you lived differently? What if the food you ate came mostly from your patchy garden which relied entirely on rain because you had to walk 5km to the nearest tap? What if you came out in the morning and a mongoose had killed your chickens and eaten all the eggs while monkeys had stripped all your tomato plants? What if you were often sick because your water was dirty and you had no wood to make a fire to boil and purify it?

If you lived like that which so many people do, does conservation become a luxury? Having mongooses and jackals around would mean livestock and therefore dinner, would be in danger. It would make sense to collect plants that reportedly help with health issues if it’s not possible to get a clinic - even if they’re becoming scarce.

I experienced something that threw my ideals of conservation into complete turmoil. There were discussions to drill boreholes just outside a very dynamic park. The boreholes were to give a supply of clean water to a small community. But it would mean that the water flowing into the park would be greatly reduced and so during the dry season, the animals and plants would likely suffer.
This was not an option in my opinion. Conservation areas are so few and far between that surely the ones we have, need to be properly managed and kept as pristine as possible.

After one particular weekend I saw a woman from this community whom I worked with. She looked terrible. It turned out that she’d been looking after friends and relatives all weekend. They’d been sick - diahorrea - a big problem and potential killer. They’d needed water. But their water came from the river and wasn’t clean. They had no money to buy paraffin to boil water and there was no wood. So in order to purify the water, they’d added bleach. The outcome was obviously not good. People died. How could one deny boreholes to this community?

So with an ever-expanding human population - the vast majority of which will have to struggle to get by, how do we create a balance between what people need and what the environment does? It’s all very well for those of us who have a bit of money and can perhaps holiday in a park and enjoy its beauty, but does conservation matter to those who can’t?

I’d have to say emphatically yes. Living with wild animals causes conflict, but the more pristine an area is, the better the chances for the people who live there. If the river hadn’t been so heavily polluted on the outside of the park, there would not be the same need for boreholes. If research into cheap alternative power was being pushed and clean, free power were available, water could be boiled without the loss of trees or the burning of fossil fuels. If areas of land support a number of different creatures, chickens might not be the main prey choice to the small predators.

Trying to marry conservation efforts with rural populations will always be a challenge, but perhaps it is true that conservation is the realm of the rich. Or perhaps to put it another way - the responsibility. Money can make the changes that are needed that will ultimately improve things for everybody and everything. This world is based around economics. We just need to spend it wisely. There’s the rub.

Spawning in the oil spill

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 13:34:37 PDT

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is the worst environmental disaster the US has faced. Toxic oil from the Deepwater Horizon well threatens the region’s sensitive shorelines and the nesting birds along the Louisiana coast. But there’s another species at serious risk: the Atlantic bluefin tuna.
Just what does the oil spill in the Gulf mean to these endangered fish? Watch this and see.

The size of the area covered in oil is almost impossible to imagine. Try this and place the spill over where you live. It hits home quite hard. I tried it over London - because London is enormous. I wasn’t expecting most of England to be covered in oil…

5000 barrels of oil a day? Sadly not.

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Fri, 28 May 2010 08:42:47 PDT

For the last 37 days, we’ve been told that the best estimate of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon site is 5000 barrels a day. In fact at times we were told that might be a bit high.
But now the independent analysis of the Flow Rate Technical Group has determined that the overall best initial estimate for the lower and upper boundaries of flow rates of oil is in the range of 12,000 and 19,000 barrels per day. Harsh.
Greenpeace have a nice counter on their website, ticking off the gallons as they spill out. The total number is rather horrendous, but adjust the leak rate and see the difference.

The Deepwater Horizon Response have listed the measure in place to try and deal with the constant outpouring of oil:

* Approximately 1,300 vessels are responding on site, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts—in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units.
* More than 1.85 million feet of containment boom and 1.25 million feet of sorbent boom have been deployed to contain the spill—and approximately 300,000 feet of containment boom and 1 million feet of sorbent boom are available.
* Approximately 11 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered.
* Approximately 840,000 gallons of total dispersant have been deployed—700,000 on the surface and 140,000 subsea. More than 380,000 gallons are available.

But with images of oil like this - clearly there’s a huge amount to be done. If this is the largest effort that can be employed, the Louisiana coastline is in for a lot more than was expected.

Red flag issue?

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Mon, 17 May 2010 12:35:02 PDT

The oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon accident is of definite ecological concern and the race is on to save shorelines and animals. But many have said that the cleanup efforts can have as much of a detrimental effect as the spill itself, what with spraying chemicals on the slick, or burning the oil.
But even small things from well meaning groups could have their impacts. I saw the following images on the Guardian‘s website and was surprised.

It’s least tern (Sternula antillarum) breeding time in the Gulf of Mexico and the small birds are scattered over beaches - at real risk of the incoming oil slick. So, with volunteers moving around helping with the cleanup and the eggs and nests highly camouflaged in the sand, Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks have marked all the nests with little red flags.

The thing is, most terns are notoriously twitchy (err...excuse the pun) nesters and are very easily disturbed. But more than that, the eggs are easy prey to predators if spotted. There’s a very good reason for the effective camouflage. Also, many predators, like gulls soon learn to associate little things like bright red flags, with a meal. Indeed I’ve head stories of researchers having real problems because gulls have learned that they will lead them to a nest and an easy meal.

The least tern in this image looks very comfortable, but I worry that the flags - planted so very close to the nests could have serious unwanted implications. I really hope I’m wrong here. Where people are trying to do a good thing and accidentally cause another problem is certainly nothing new in this world - but it is incredibly unfortunate. If anyone knows how these terns are doing, I’d love to hear about it.

To see the images in their original context click here.

Extinct? So what.

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:28:29 PDT

I’ve been thinking a lot about extinction recently. My work has me reading a lot of bad news stories and state of the environment papers. It can be difficult to stay upbeat at times. Extinction is a word bandied about a great deal at the moment – well, we’re meant to be entering the sixth mass extinction period. Things are going to die.
But does it really matter? The earth has gone through 5 of these periods before, and look at the diversity around us! It will recover. This re-evolved earth is unlikely to have tigers in it though. Or polar bears. Probably no elephants either.
But that’s the future. We’re not that good at looking at the future and thinking we might just be able to change it. Humans know all about extinction. The dodo’s name will live on forever with us – the fact that there aren’t any in existence doesn’t seem to be the point. It has become a story, a myth, a fairy tale of a large, flightless bird that was hunted until there were none left.

The dodo has been used as the logo of the Durrel Wildlife Preservation Trust to convey the importance of conservation and the finality of extinction.

But we can be forgiven for that. It happened ages ago. None of us were responsible for what happened in the 17th Century. Same with the quagga. It took a while for people to realise that the lone female which died in Amsterdam Zoo in 1883, was the last of her kind. The last passenger pigeon died in 1914 – at the start of the first world war.
But then it starts getting a little bit more uncomfortable. In 1952 the last Caribbean monk seal was seen. In 2000 a tree fell on the remaining Pyrenean Ibex. At the same time we waved goodbye to Costa Rica’s golden toad. Only a few years ago, in 2006 the Yangtze River dolphin was declared extinct. These are big obvious animals and with only the exception of the golden toad, and the dolphin they were all excessively hunted. The toad though has been given the accolade of being the first extinction that can be attributed to a changing climate. The Yangtze river dolphin was choked with industrial and residential waste, heavily increased boat traffic and structural changes in the riverbed.
Basically – these extinctions are down to us. But life goes on and it hasn’t really impacted us. Most of us would never have seen these animals anyway. I might not want to live in a world without snow leopards, but I could. Quite easily.

-Burne Hogarth

What happens though if a species goes extinct that all of us rely on? This is a distinct possibility. Imagine if bees disappeared…there have been many warnings.
And what of krill? These tiny crustaceans are the basis of the ocean’s food chain. Everything relies on them either directly or indirectly. Experiments done under CO2 conditions predicted for the end of the century saw krill unable to develop their exoskeletons properly – and so be highly unlikely to procreate. This is because CO2 changes the ocean’s acidity. The krill cannot develop their calcium based exoskeletons in an acid environment.
What then do the fish, whales, seals and seabirds eat? And what do the predators of krill eaters eat? And so on.

So should we be worried about extinction?

Hell yes. If we value our own species if nothing else.

Happy Earth Day

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:28:19 PDT

On this 40th annual Earth Day, I’ve selected some of the top stories from various news sites and magazines that have a dedicated science/ environment section. This is what news is happening in our environment today.

‘Paltry’ Copenhagen carbon pledges point to 3C world."Pledges made at the Copenhagen summit are very unlikely to keep global warming below 2C, researchers find.” -Richard Black, BBC News

Awarding of Brazilian dam contract prompts warning of bloodshed. “Indigenous leader says men are preparing their bows and arrows to prevent construction of the Belo Monte dam”. - Tom Phillips, The Guardian

At 40, Earth Day Is Now Big Business. “So strong was the antibusiness sentiment for the first Earth Day in 1970 that organizers took no money from corporations and held teach-ins “to challenge corporate and government leaders.” Forty years later, the day has turned into a premier marketing platform for selling a variety of goods and services, like office products, Greek yogurt and eco-dentistry.” - Leslie Kaufman, New York Times

World’s third-largest dam gets the go-ahead. “A decades-long tug of war between environmental and indigenous groups on one hand and the Brazilian government on the other came to a close yesterday when a Brazilian energy consortium won the right to build what will become the world’s third-largest dam.” - Kate McAlpine, New Scientist

First Green Supersonic Jet Launches on Earth Day. “A Navy Super Hornet fighter jet is set to take a supersonic flight on Earth Day on a mix of half biofuel, showcasing the Pentagon’s efforts to reduce the military’s reliance on oil.” - Marianne Lavelle, National Geographic News

Parrots face extinction. “The orange-bellied parrot faces extinction inside five years, with as few as 50 birds left in the wild, scientists warn.” -Adam Morton, Sydney Morning Herald

On Earth Day’s 40th anniversary, a different world. “Denis Hayes, coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970, discusses the challenges for the environmental movement and prospects for global warming legislation in today’s changed political climate.” -Jim Tankersley, Tribune Washington Bureau

Betting on climate change. “Is the planet really warming up? Just ask the corporations that stand to make—or lose—billions due to “climate exposure.” -Clive Thompson, Reuters

World Bank approves loan for enormous coal plant

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:47:02 PDT

The UN climate talks kicked off yesterday in their first meeting since the rather dismal Copenhagen Summit. Also yesterday, the World Bank approved a 3.75 BILLION dollar loan to South Africa – and we’re not talking Zimbabwean dollars. South Africa will accept this loan in order to build one of the world’s largest power stations, the Medupi station – to be powered by coal. It will produce 25 million tonnes of CO2 annually – which is more than a shedload. Medupi apparently means “rain that soaks parched lands, giving economic relief”.

Picture from Eskom showing site clearance

Apparently it’s needed to secure energy for the country and keep development and economics on track while helping out the poor. This isn’t a blog on politics so I won’t go there. But, if the poor are to benefit and Eskom the country’s sole energy provider, is to double its electricity tariffs very shortly and then increase them several times more as they have stated (in order to pay for the rest of the cost of this power plant), then I’m not sure that people on the breadline will benefit.
Imagine though how many solar panels $3.75 billion dollars would buy. Perhaps that won’t help industry so much, but if you’re wanting to target poverty elimination, wouldn’t that be a better way to go?
On the environmental side of things. I fear this is very shortsighted thinking on the part of both the World Bank and South Africa’s government. The science does point to very severe consequences in ALL ecosystems and everywhere in the world if emissions aren’t curbed. But not only that, some of South Africa’s parks might just be mined for coal to feed this new power station. You can read about it here. So enjoy these movies of wilderness, because in a couple of decades, we might be showing a very different scenario.

Memories of a birding challenge FAIL

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 06:30:07 PDT

I’d lost about a pint of blood to mosquitoes and was unable to stand still for itching. I wasn’t so sure this was the best idea anymore. It seemed right at the time.
October 24th was the day to do something. There were over 5200 events scheduled to take place in 181 countries for people to raise awareness of climate change and call on governments to do something about it. I thought I should join the cause that 350.org had coordinated. I could have gone and built sandcastles on Durban’s beaches and watched a rising tide drown them. But somehow it seemed wrong to drive for a climate change jaunt. But then I found the perfect thing. Birding Africa and Birdlife had called on people to try and photograph 350 species of birds across South Africa in 24 hours.
Perfect, I thought. I could walk to a strip of forest and see what I could find. Then I could try the beach and perhaps get a few shorebirds. I set my alarm for dawn.
Dawn is exceptionally early in KZN. Annoyingly the vast majority of birds are early ones getting worms, so at 04h30 I absorbed some coffee in the dim light and set off for the forest.
There was bird song all around me. Tweeting and chirping came from all directions. But I couldn’t see a damn thing. It turns out that forest birds are outrageously shy and masters of disguise. I crept through the dark undergrowth following the definite call of a brown-hooded kingfisher. Eventually I found him and I snuck forward. At this point I made a significant discovery. Apparently the distance that a bird will allow between it and me before it flies, is exactly 2cm further than the range of my rather poor zoom lens. This was problematic. I was already covered in mud having kicked myself repeatedly to try and displace some of the mosquitoes taking full advantage of their easy prey, but perhaps a bit more would camouflage me and I’d be able to get closer…
I wasn’t having much luck at all. I’d got several fuzzy photos of completely unidentifiable birds, mostly hidden by leaves, although I’d seen some great species. A purple crested turaco flitted overhead, a green-backed camaroptera bleated at me, a Cape batis perched in the open for a millisecond. I missed them all. Suddenly I heard the call of a gorgeous bush shrike so close to me, it could have been in my pocket. Turned out it was in my pocket. My phone was ringing.

I decided I might have more luck on the forest edge and made my way through. I got lucky with a prinia and a weaver. Hoorah! Surely nobody else would have those two?
I walked for ages and picked up a few more species that should at least be identifiable. Suddenly a pair of hoopoes landed on the tree in front of me and started necking. Finally I was going to get a really good photo! I snuck forward, raised my camera focused and waited a second for the birds to move into aesthetic perfection and clicked the shutter.

...Except, the lens glided back into the camera and it shut down. My batteries had died. I couldn’t believe it! No amount of shaking and rubbing them made any difference so I had to walk all the way back to change them. I’d been sure they would last.
Back at the flat and replenished with batteries and coffee it turned out there were more birds in the garden than in the forest so I spent a happy hour before heading to the beach.

It must have been good weather for fishing as there were fisherman dotted along the entire length of the shore. I didn’t see one bird. I went back to the forest edge and worked it as hard as I could. Somehow, contrary to all laws of physics, the sun was always directly behind any bird that showed itself.

I had no idea that a photographic birding challenge was quite this challenging. It seemed that I needed a lens similar to the Hubble to get a decent photograph. But, at the end of the day when I checked the photos, I had fourteen recognisable species. I was chuffed.

Here’s a small collection of the best and worst shots. If you tried this and had the same issues, me your photos and I’ll publish them.

South Georgia’s rats get the death sentence

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 06:44:16 PDT

The South Georgia Heritage Trust is planning murder on a large scale. Up until the mid 20th century whaling still happened on this island and a visitor, which arrived with, but never left with the whalers is the rat. Having rats and mice is a major issue on islands which are exceptionally important as seabird breeding colonies and historically have no land predators. These rodents become the major predators and vast numbers of chicks from many species get eaten – alive. The South Georgia pippit, the Antarctic’s only songbird, found only on this archipelago, is hanging on by a thread. Pierre Minnie and I were lucky enough to see one singing away while on our Antarctic voyage.

More than 300 islands have successfully been freed from these whiskered beasts before – but all of them have been small islands. South Georgia is huge in comparison – 120km long – at least 8 times the size of the largest island tackled so far. It’s one hell of a planned operation.
Imagine implementing a program this big and just one pregnant female survives...It would render the entire programme pointless. Tony Martin, project manager of the SGHT Habitat Restoration Programme has said “We don’t have to get rid of most or even 99.9 per cent of the rats - we have to eradicate 100 per cent.”

A few years back Ross Wanless from the University of Cape Town brought evidence of house mice wreaking havoc on Tristan albatross chicks on Gough Island. The albatrosses have no defence system against these attacks. They’ve evolved with no land predators so as foolish as it seems – the upshot of the introduction of house mice to Gough Island is that the chicks just sit there while the mice eat them alive. Disturbing indeed.
Watching Ross’s video it appears that rat eradication is the only way forward, but the downside is that the only way of doing this is by poisoning the rats - and there will be unavoidable deaths in the seabird populations as well. I guess it comes down to the fact that if the rats are gone, the bird populations should be able to recover from their casualties, but an expanding rat population will keep increasing chick mortality year by year. And with a warming climate and ultimately more and more land being freed from ice and becoming available to the rats, I guess it’s now or never.

Bluebottles, beaches and back ache

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:45:29 PDT

This has got to be one of the most outstanding coastlines in the country. It’s a cracking day so we decided to spend the day at the beach exploring. Last night was full moon and the resulting spring tide was huge. Along with an onshore wind, it spelled disaster for hundreds if not thousands of bluebottles though. These amazingly are not single organisms but are made up of four different types of polyps to form one working unit. If they sting you though, they hurt like hell. As there were still plenty floating about in the waves, I decided not to go for a quick swim to cool down.

Instead we moved into a cave. The spring tide also meant that low tide was extremely low so we could get to places that would ordinarily be underwater. There’s a mixture of hard sandstone from the Table Mountain group here as well as a much softer limestone.

This means that wave action from the ocean has cut the most remarkable crannys, shapes and features all along the coast. This cave was amazingly big and very damp. The rocks were all covered with a layer of red algae - a type that does well in the dark, and it was pretty slippery. We slid our way to the back where Pierre had the challenge of trying to get the correct exposure for both the dark interior as well as the bright, glaring outside.

It’s not an easy task. But we stayed for ages, looking at the amazingly water-carved roof and dark, rocky colours. Small sand lice type creatures scurried over the walls and crabs dipped down under the rocks.

We emerged back into the bright sunlight and heat and explored the littoral zone. There are literally millions of white mussels embedded here. It would be most painful to walk here without shoes. This is a site historically used by people many thousands of years ago. Shell middens have been found and still remain here. There’s certainly plenty of food - but how did ancient people protect their feet?

We moved further and further down this extraordinary coastline. Everywhere you look there’s something incredible to watch and see. Kelp sways in channels between the rocks, and winkles mass on the soft rock faces in their millions carving out little hollows and making every edge razor sharp.

But then tragedy struck. Wading through some water and carrying the enormously heavy, unwieldy and uncomfortable tripod, Pierre slipped and wrenched his back. He tried to carry on but was obviously in a lot of pain. So we had to give up for the day.

This rock not only depicts the pain that Pierre felt - but also my pain when I realised that the car was a million miles away - uphill and I was now the only one able to carry the equipment.

Skinny eland hoardes

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:49:54 PDT

It was grey and drizzly again this morning. A great sign for the parched earth. Hopefully the drought is ending. This area is a winter rainfall area so the rains are definitely due to arrive shortly. This soft rain is a perfect start that will soak the earth and create a flush before the heavy storms arrive which could cause a lot of erosion in places where the vegetation has died back.

We went out to see what we could find and didn’t have to go far. After a few kilometers we ran into a group of eland - enormous cow-like antelope and the most commonly depicted animal in African rock art.

Amazingly the antelopes kept coming over the ridge in a never-ending stream. I’ve never seen such a big herd in my life. There were perhaps in the region of 150. The only thing is, they’re extremely thin with ribs and hip bones sticking out dramatically.

Fynbos is notoriously nutrient-poor vegetation so a lot of it needs to be eaten to fuel these giant buck. Being ruminants though, they’re limited in the amount that they can eat. Ruminants are able to extract the majority of nutrients from plants using bacterial action to break down the tough cellulose walls - but it takes time and during tough times, this obviously means that they take strain. Apparently a couple of carcasses of females have been found recently. Grass is full of nutrients but at the moment it’s practically non-existent. The rains though should have an effect pretty soon.
I’m just wondering though if there are a few too many eland here and the carrying capacity has been exceeded. The only predators here are caracals and the small Cape leopards - neither of which are too likely to tackle an animal this size.

If the rains keep coming, this herd should return to good condition. But if it’s a dry year, there may be a few more carcasses to deal with. With fences around parks and totally transformed landscapes surrounding them, there’s nowhere else for these antelope to disperse or find better food in tough times.

From sunrise to glorious sunset

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:58:31 PST

The sun’s out. Hurrah! We could go and explore so we went straight towards the dunes in a land that’s already more vibrant than when we arrived thanks to good soaking rain and then something of a downpour.

The dunes glow against the sky and fynbos - massive peaks of shifting sands. When the winds blow the sand flies off the top of them like clouds from a mountain and these dunes are always slightly on the move. We’re not investigating them just yet - we’re saving them for later in the week.

The thing is, the landscape is already responding to the rains and out of nowhere the chandelier lilies or candelabra lilies (Brunsvigia orientalis) have popped out of the bare ground. They don’t even seem to have any leaves. They’re not a common flower but they’re well known as they’re unmistakable and very visible in a fynbos landscape.

The day filled quickly as we moved between microsystems looking at the different plant species and any associated animals. Before we knew it the sun was settling and we headed back to our rondawels to log the tapes and do the admin and make ourselves a gourmet meal. But we were distracted by the sunset over the vlei.

There are some sights that are simply outrageously beautiful. As pictures tell a thousand words I’ll shut up at this point.

Exploring the bottom of Africa

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:31:25 PST

I’m filming with Pierre again. We’re back in the western Cape, nearly at the very southern tip of Africa. Our destination this time is De Hoop Nature Reserve, a RAMSAR site thanks to the massive vlei attracting numerous waterbirds, and is also a World Heritage Site.

We’ve arrived at the same time that the first rains in months are falling. It’ll make filming tricky but we can see it’s more than time for some moisture in these parts.

Despite the overpowering vlei, the land is dry.

The fynbos is patchy, interspersed with areas of scorched grass and the whole place is a tinderbox.

But the rain is making the fynbos glow as if with an inner light. It looks and smells fantastic and the gloom is making it highly atmospheric.

There seems plenty for us to film over the next two weeks and with the rain, hopefully we’ll see the first flush and an improvement in the condition of the animals.

For now, tea and toasted sandwiches are in order. We have accommodation which is a great improvement on that on Malgas.

The only problem we have is trying to locate a very loud and energetic cricket which has found its way into the back of our car. Hopefully we can get it out, otherwise all our footage is going to have a very cheery chirping soundtrack.

Happy Birthday Oystercatchers!

riaan@weekdayheroes.co.za (Admin) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:34:32 PST

After yesterday’s grisly scenes, we wanted to focus on something a bit happier. We decided to try and get some shots of African black oystercatchers feeding their chicks.

This is not easy. Oystercatchers are supremely suspicious birds and their eyesight appears to be incredibly good. At the first sign of us they will fly off their nests and if they have chicks, circle us chirping non-stop.

We pretended to be facing the other way – focusing on the gannets…but they were not fooled. At the first chirp from their parents the chicks will scamper under a rock and pretend – very effectively, to be a stone.
We sat in the hot sun all morning and got nothing. Only adult oystercatchers watching us closely.

But then a highly exciting thing happened. On checking some nests where we knew there were eggs, it turned out they were beginning to hatch.
About 5 or 6 different nests’ eggs were all pipping at the same time. Hoorah!

We snuck to a nest for a couple of minutes and returned an hour later. We couldn’t stay long as the parent birds obviously weren’t happy with us being there and we had to avoid gulls coming to see what we were investigating.

But we got that special moment of seeing the tiny egg tooth moving and peeking out of a hole in the shell.

For our last day on Malgas, this was a fantastic way to end the trip. We’ll be heading for a hot shower with actual soap first thing in the morning. Nice. And after a week, I’d say it’s probably essential.