November catch up and Great Southern Bioblitz

  

by Diana Studer

- gardening for biodiversity

 in Cape Town, South Africa

 

We were away for four weeks. Then a week here with the Ungardener's sister from Frankfurt. Meanwhile catching up with real life...

 

Clean windows for the patio

My youngest niece was here on SabbatiCAT. We scuttled around for months. Even cleaned the side windows on the patio - now we can see our garden again. Seat covers had served us well thru 3 houses, and the fresh set arrived just days before we left!

 

New seat covers, still with shop creases
and Thomas and Zoe

A garden token for November. Delicate flowers of Orobanche minor, pale and interesting as it's a root parasite and doesn't need green.

 

Orobanche minor

We had some severe weather. Heavy rain. Far edge of our beach is eroded back to optimistic concrete, and there are mudslide scars along our mountains as we drive around.

 

Erosion by Silvermine River on Fish Hoek beach

I haven't walked on our beach for a long time, in silent protest against what they did to our dunes. Scraped off the natural vegetation and biodiversity. Shoved the 'excess' sand into the sea, and reconfigured the dunes much lower. Then installed kilometres of plastic fence, and planted exotic marram grass. Against erosion. You can guess what happened ... front rows of fence were swept out to sea with high tide, leaving vertical sand cliffs. But 'people are happy' as there is less windblown sand for houses and businesses near the dunes, they say. That mid last century mindset that civil engineering can, and will, tame and control nature. Not.

 

Reconfigured sand dunes
kilometres of plastic fence
exotic marram grass

For my Great Southern Bioblitz observations I collected beach blobs. Lovely striped and mottled purple jellyfish.

 

Jellyfish

Gently purple plough shell ploughing the sand for dinner.

 

Purple plough shell

Enchanting tiny vivid blue life was a by the wind sailor.

 

By the wind sailor

That colour in the sea is red tide. For a couple of evenings there was bioluminescence in the breaking waves!

 

Red tide for bioluminescence

The Ungardener wanted a journey for his big birthday. Sorting out what to take. Then looking back at what I wore. And what came home unworn. There are pictures to sort, stories to write, in blog posts for next year.

 

For a Splendid birthday

Fast forward to today. Helicopters and hundreds of firefighters battling a mountain fire above Simon's Town. Started yesterday. Houses evacuated, twice. Five firefighters injured, with two in hospital.

 

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