Eleven Orchids

 

Valentines Day or what it actually should be called, Single Awareness Day. Cynical as I am, today it was all about flowers and I was all ready for the Annual Orchid Count... leave taken, cellphone and camera batteries were all charged, water bottles filled, sunblock, cap and a bandana for the neck, all my stuff was packed and ready when the clock hit 8 this morning. Last year it was drizzling and still I got sun burnt but today looked like it is going to be a scorcher before we even set out and it was.

 
I am not sure how many there were but about 20 counters set out into the Protea forested veld to look for the Albertina Sisulu Orchid. All in a row we search with keen eyes hoping to be the first to find this rare critically endangered orchid and it wasn't long before we found them.
 

 

Not often do we see one of the pollinators, a butterfly, not sure what type but a butterfly none the less.

 

Because it was so hot we didn't see as many animals as we did last year, this year I saw a fleeting glimpse of a duiker, a scrub hare, francolins, guinefowls, and quite a few insects. Nice to see the insects as there is a growing concern that insects are dying out by the millions. There was this one that looked like a dragonfly and battled to fly. I left the count line to try and get a good photo of it. After following it for a couple of metres I managed to get this photo (above) of an antlion.

 

Sadly we only managed to find 11 Albertina Silulu Orchids today. Another 2 were counted in the refuge area last week by a group from Wits University. Although we had good rains the previous month we don't know much about these beautiful and rare ground orchids. They only flower for a few weeks of the year, and it seems that they don't flower every year.

And then there was 5

Ernest

Today started much like it did a year ago, rainy and misty but I was not doing the same same mistake as last year and not take any water or be prepared for the late sun on this year's Annual Orchid Count. Ernest joined us this year because last year we nearly stepped onto a Night Jar nest, and Ernest has been keen on getting some Night Jar breeding photographs. You can see he was well prepared to his mid sized lens.

Cherry Spot Moth Caterpillar

About 25 of us counters spread out in a line about 10 paces apart and started walking along the Sugarbush Ridge from the Krugersdorp side towards the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens, then back towards Krugersdorp. We looped back and forth until we cover just about the whole area. We flushed out over 20 Night Jars much to Ernest's delight but never came across any Night Jar nests. Sorry Ernest, they were too well camouflaged. We also saw many other birds and lots of crawling creatures including a young male Mountain Reed buck. Like the orchid that we were seeking, they too endangered. It was good to see them this side of the ridge during the day. 

Albertina Sisulu Orchid

After walking and walking and walking, we finally came upon our first orchid of the day. And soon afterwards in quick succession we found 4 more of these critically endangered orchids. Sadly after walking over 7 km in the veld, we ONLY found 5 Albertina  Sisulu Orchids. With sore feet, sagging shoulders, and my head down, we could only listen to Tony say to us, "it must have been the late rains". Not much is known about these extremely rare orchids so whatever the reason, I can't help myself, and feel down that the last of these are dwindling from 8 last year to a handful today. Only 5, it hurts thinking about it!

Flap Neck Chameleon

Hunting for Orchids

The other day I was thinking about this extremely endangered orchid, the Brachycorythis conica subsp. transvaalensis or better known as the Albertina Sisulu orchid. How do we get better public awareness of this small ground orchid. I was already doing social media for the Proteadal Conservation Association which is trying to protect the area where the last remaining orchids are found from scrupulous developers. And the answer was more social and mainstream media champions.

This orchid has a name, Albertina Sisulu, a political name yet a name none the less and I thought about my friend Jedidjah who runs a website, "I have a Name - This is my story" and has a very successful social following. So I contacted her and she was keen to come out and see the rare orchid, it would sure put a different spin on "I have a name". I also invited another friend, Heather from the 2Summers fame.

This morning it started raining and sadly Heather pulled out, hopefully she can come another day. I phoned Jedidjah to see if she also wanted to postpone but she was still keen. I said to her that we would have to hike just over a kilometre in the on/off rain unless we had a 4x4 and then we could get closer. She answered that she is driving a 4x4 so it was all systems go.

We got about a third of the way when the dirt track became very clay like so we abandoned the 4x4 and continued on foot. By the time we got to the orchid I was soaked through to the skin and Jedidjah was just all smiles in us finding the Albertina Sisulu in these conditions. It was a muddy and successful adventure.

Albertina Sisulu Orchid

I joined the annual count for the Albertina Sisulu Orchid along the southern slopes of ridge that runs through Proteadal. This orchid was once thought to be extinct but a few years back a viable population of the orchid was found. Once thought to be extinct, in 2015, just over 100 of these extremely endangered ground orchids were counted. The problem is that developers want to build very close to where the orchids are and with their own environment specialist claimed that there where no endangered plants such as this orchid there. Well every year an annual count is done.

The following year 2016 only 3 were found, and 2017 it was a bumper year with nearly 150 found. So today we spread out about 5 metres apart and walked and walked and walked. What felt like 20km, we only walked just over 10km but over rough terrain. Even with the 5m gap being searcher we could have missed a few plants but this margin of error is the same every year and gives us an indication of how many there actually are. The main issue is that the orchids are there, and it contradicts the environmental specialist hired by the developers, assessment that there are no orchids here. Sadly we only found 8 Albertina Sisulu orchids on our count today and I was finished. Kaput! No more walking for me for a while.

I saw plenty of other orchids, more common ones and also just as beautiful. we saw plenty of the African Red Toads, yet no snakes. 2 Flap Neck Chameleons, a Giant Eagle Owl, a couple of Night Jars, and lots of Francolins. Below are a sample...

Large Flap Neck Chameleon waiting for lunch on some pompom weeds

A much smaller Flap Neck Chameleon, this one was very aggressive and bit me twice as I moved him safely to a tree

I stand corrected with the names, we saw plenty of pink orchids and these white Habenaria epipactidea

A big problem, Protea tree deforesting for firewood

Protea flowers

Now this is my favourite find, also an orchid 

Damage done by 4x4s in the area

I have been told that these repairs to the 4x4 tracks have already cost over R4million

And finally a giant caterpillar on a protea tree 

Albertina Sisulu Orchid

Today the day in-between 2 busy function days of my 50th, a day of rest between the family braai and tomorrows photowalk incorporating a cheese and wine sundowner.

Resting but no ways putting my feet up as I had to get to a Proteadal Conservation Association’s talk at Featherbrook Estate about the Albertina Sisulu Orchid. This orchid is listed as Critically Endangered and the next step is Possibly Extinct. It was first discovered in 1918 but was only named in 1955 as the Brachycorythis conica ssp. Transvaalensis but was last seen the following year. In 2007 a group was rediscovered in Krugersdorp section of the Gold Reef Mountain Ridge. The kloof that runs past my house is part of this ridge system and about 3km south of where the orchids where found.

With just over 100 left, this last know viable population of orchid species is the reason for me being here at this talk. The conditions are the same as the Protea forested veld outside my home and I am hoping that we can find another population of these orchids here.

Interesting facts about the Gold Reef Mountain Ridge which includes the kloof is that there are 700 plant species, 200 animal species, and 22 species of birds of prey, in this area and the bonus is it is all outside my home, not that I have seen anywhere close to 1% of them.