Colours of Wildlife: Haenertsburg Grassland and Forest
Created | Updated 20 Hours Ago
Haenertsburg Grassland and Forest
Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"
On Sunday, 3 November 2024, I accompanied a group of young folks, mostly students at the University of Limpopo, to a patch of grassland and forest on a private farm to which we managed to arrange access. The place was close to the scenic little town of Haenertsburg, which name you might recognize by now if you've been reading this column regularly. Haenertsburg is situated in the mountains marking the eastern edge of the escarpment separating the low-lying regions further to the east from the high inland plateau on which my own city, Polokwane, lies. Haenertsburg and its environs are much moister than Polokwane. Instead of the dry, open savannah and grassland of Polokwane, the natural vegetation of Haenertsburg is moist grassland and forest. The forest generally clothes the more protected slopes, while the grassland exists on large, open slopes and plateaus where regular fires cut down on the growth of trees. The farm where we went, had both kinds of habitat.
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First here's a shot to show you what the environment looks like. The grassland covers a gentle slope in the foreground with the forest on a steeper slope in the background.
When we went, Polokwane was still very dry, having had no meaningful rains yet for the season, but Haenertsburg had already had some good showers, and luxuriant grass and sprouting shoots and flowers were in evidence all over the grassland. Most grassland flowers belong to the Daisy Family, the Asteraceae. One of the most impressive was Callilepis leptophylla or Oxeye Daisy. These large white flowerheads with the dark centres were standing a yard or more tall. If you look closely, you can see a little fly sitting on this one!
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Another fairly typical daisy is Berkheya setifera, the Buffalo-Tongue Thistle, so-called for its rough, prickly leaves. The leaves can be boiled and eaten as a vegetable!
Another group from the daisy family that is abundant in these mountain grasslands are the Everlastings, Helichrysum. They're called so for their flowerheads that can be very long-lasting after cut and which are therefore often used in flower arrangements. This species is Helichrysum acutatum, the Sticky everlasting. These bright golden flowerheads are twice-compound, consisting of large numbers of already compound but much smaller daisy-type flowerheads.
A small herb that can be seen amidst the taller grasses and daisies is the St. John's Wort, Hypericum aethiopicum. This species is closely related to the St. John's Wort of Europe, and like it, has numerous medicinal uses. At the top of the photo you can see another small flowering herb, an Oxalis or Woodsorrel, which has edible leaves and tubers.
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A wonderful find for me was this small Gladiolus. I don't know which species it is, but the flowers were wonderfully deep wine-purple. I've been amazed ever since starting to intensively flower-watch at the diversity of Gladioli I'm finding. They're supposed to be most typical of the southern provinces of South Africa like the Cape provinces and Kwazulu-Natal, but I've now found a great variety of beautiful ones here in Limpopo. The garden gladioli are mainly hybrids bred to be large and showy, but I really love these much more modest wild kinds � you just have to go up close to them to appreciate their exquisite beauty.
Another typical grassland plant was this Anemone transvaalensis, a member of the Buttercup family the Ranuculaceae, and also a close relative of the anemones seen in horticulture. Again, this is a rather modest plant that you have to go right up to, to appreciate. The flowers are usually nodding, but here I had a friend lift them up to show you their faces.
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Feeding on some of the Anemone's leaves we found this boldly-marked little caterpillar! It is the juvenile of a hawkmoth, Basiothia medea. The adult moth, like this caterpillar, is green � apart from bright orange hindwings! Hawkmoths are some of the most recognizable of the moths. Adults hover in front of flowers while extending their proboscises to drink the nectar, and there are quite a few that are active by day. Their caterpillars have little 'tails' at the end of their abdomen and often a pair of eye-spots at the front, making them look like something much larger and more dangerous, like a snake.
Next, a few shots from the forest. First there's this pretty little Iris, Dietes iridioides. These often grow on the forest margin, or inside the forest close to the edge. This is unusual, since most irises grow and flower out in full sun, but this is one of a few species that prefer shade. Related irises are favourite garden plants.
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Also on the edge of the forest, there is this Staghorn Clubmoss, Palinhua cernua. Clubmosses are 'primitive', simple plants, related to ferns and reproducing mainly through spores. They do have a sexually reproductive phase as well, during which they release 'sperm' that have to swim in water to reach the ova, which is why they are only found in fairly moist regions. This species is one of the largest and most recognizable of the clubmosses, commonly growing up to about a metre/yard but exceptionally even to 2.4m/8'!
Proper ferns also love the forest interior. This one with its unusually branching leaves is Sticherus umbraculiferus, which can grow quite vigorously in situations where the forest canopy lets in a bit more light, but these ones were in quite deep shade.
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The forest also has of course a large number of animal denizens. We heard the barking calls of Samango Monkeys and a large variety of forest birds, but we also had a bit more of a direct and personal encounter with this little stick insect, here seen on the hand of Vincent Egan. It was happy to walk from hand to hand, making it fairly easy to photograph although it wouldn't sit still to pose nicely. South Africa doesn't have a huge stick insect fauna, and I don't know which species this is. Stick insects include the longest insects ever recorded, measuring over 64 cm/25" in length! But as you can see this one is far more modest.
All in all, this was a fun day's outing! We will see about returning to the farm again quite soon.
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