New poster for the Common

Recent clearing operations on Meadowridge Common were brought to a halt when the workers discovered a wild honeybee colony. Although this colony was known to some of the locals, it was an exciting find for many conservationists. One of the visitors drew our attention to the colony as she was concerned that it had now become exposed as half the bush it was in had been cut away. The Friends of Meadowridge Common were directed to Jenny Cullinan of the Wild Bee Research Group and with her help, and input from The City of Cape Town, we decided to make a poster to put up on the Common. If you would like to download a PDF of the poster, click here.
Visit the Wild Bee Research Group web page here, as well as their Facebook Page.

Birds and beetles

A Hairy Darkling Beetle (Lagria sp.) on the Common. According to the Field guide to Insects of South Africa by Mike Picker, Alan Weaving and Charles Griffiths, they are related to the toktokkes, the Tenebrionidae family.
BELOW: A beautiful Black-headed Heron in a tall pine tree, trying to look like one of the branches.

Lunate ladybirds and blister beetles

This morning on the Common I spotted this Lunate Ladybird (Cheilomenes lunata) sweeping a daisy bush for aphids. (Other beetles you might find on the Common.)

There were also several Spotted Blister Beetles (Ceroctis capensis) on the Fonteinbos or Bloukeur bushes (Psoralea pinnata). These beetles belong to the family Meloidae many of which secrete a poison, cantharadin, which may blister human skin, and if eaten, prove fatal!

Cape Autumn Widow

Flying around the Common now are lots of pretty brown butterflies. These are Cape Autumn Widows (Dira clytus) that are related to the Table Mountain Beauty. They are known as browns and belong to the family Nymphalidae and subfamily Satyrinae. The underside of the wing in most browns is cryptically coloured and eyespots are common. Foodplants are grasses and sedges.
Cape Autumn Widow butterflies fly slowly just above grass, often settling on bare patches of ground. The females scatter eggs in flight. The larvae are well camouflaged and feed on various grasses. Their preferred habitat is grassy areas on mountain slopes and lower ground.
Information from Field guide to insects of South Africa by Mike Picker, Charles Griffiths and Alan Weaving, Struik.

Common stick insects

An article calling for people to look out for an uncommon stick insect started me re-looking at my population of stick insects in the garden. It turns out that they are all the common or garden alien Indian stick insects, but the Common might harbour the more uncommon varieties. See my article Stick insects in the news. (Click on the highlighted text. To get back again, click on the arrow on the top left of the window.)

These goggas are most interesting, and apparently in some species who live in fynbos, their hard, seed-like eggs are attractive to ants who treat them like edible seeds or ant larvae, or dead ants, that need to be carried into their underground nest, where they are safe from fires and parasitic wasps.

Caroline Voget