Life Wonderings of a Nature Lover: February 2021 Sitamani Country Diary

February was a very mild month, often in the past few years it has been hot and dry. The first three weeks were relatively drier and warmer, on Sunday 21 the hottest day of the month was recorded, 27C, several mornings dipped to 10C. On Wednesday 24 storms raged and we had 73mm of rain overnight, and another 20mm on Thursday 25, bringing the total rainfall to 162,5mm for February.

The hillsides are still green, though now there is a touch of gold with the seeding grasses. The exotic Silver Birches in the garden have dropped all their leaves and the Pin Oak avenue has red splashes of colour in the leaves.

Evening skies in February are always beautiful, light lingering until about 7pm, long after sunset.

This month I haven’t been able to spend as much time wandering the hillsides, here are some of the highlights.

Tuesday 2

The two Pterygodium magnum orchids reached their full height and flowering, about 1m.

Tucked amongst the flowers a Crab spider, Thomisus species, waited patiently for a meal to arrive.

Wednesday 3

The dawn sky was vibrant between bands of clouds.

Thursday 11

A brighter dawn sky.

A female Forest King Emperor, Charaxes xiphares penningtoni, flew into the house, giving me an opportunity to photograph it.

Wednesday 17

I managed a brief walk before doing some Bramble control work.

Habenaria pseudociliosa

Kniphofia laxiflora

Schizoglossum bidens species

Conostomium natalense

Thursday 25

After two days of rain, water drops sparkled on bared branches in early morning sunlight.

Sunday 28

Field slugs eating a Puff ball fungi

A simply glorious dawn

A few times during the month I have seen two female and one male Common Reedbuck, usually in the orchard. Twice I’ve spotted a Black-backed Jackal moving swiftly into the Mondi pine plantation. A delight is the pair of Cape Wagtails that have taken up residence in the garden.