Depth of field - take your pick

If you've ever tried photographing dragon flies you'll know that sitting still is not in their character. Now bring a 120-500mm lens on a tripod into the picture and try and sort out the depth of field for a particular shot.........

My result was slightly different with the two shots I succeeded in getting off...............so red or blue, take your pick.

Red.........

.......or blue?

The gentle art of the flightless dung beetle

When you drive around the Addo Elephant National Park there are signs on the road warning that the dung beetles have the right of way and you had better believe it.  They are often seen scurrying along the road looking for nice fresh piles of elephant or buffalo dung to make their balls.

It was interesting watching this guy make his dung ball from scratch, carefully breaking off pieces of dung and compacting them into the right shape.

King of his "castle"

If you want more information on these fascinating creatures click here for a post I did on them in 2008.

Hopping around the Karoo

When you walk through the Karoo you can be forgiven if you don't happen to see one of these grasshoppers, because they blend into their surroundings so well. The only reason I found these was because of their efforts to escape being crushed under my boots.

I am new to insect identification, but I think this is the blue-wing grasshopper.

Flowers of the Eastern Cape #16 - Happy Spring Day

Despite the aridness, the Steenbokmelkbos (Euphorbia burmannii) are making a beutiful splash of colour throughout the Karoo at the moment.

These plants also seem to attract the flies. I did not try smelling them for fear of getting a fly up my nose.

Karoo Kameos #5 - Locust

This rather striking locust appears to be wearing red stockings. It was photographed in the Karoo near Kleinpoort.

Aliens in the garden?

A common site in sandy soil throughout South Africa and I believe the rest of the world, is the sand pit trap of the antlion. Any ant that slips into one of these traps stands a good chance of being eaten - why I say stands a good chance is because I have seen ants flung out of the trap, as an over zealous antlion tries to capture them.

The antlion itself, looks very much like an alien monster to me. Who would imagine that these will eventually transform into a damsel fly-like creature.

Post script - Sunday, 16 May 2010:

 To catch an antlion take a thin stem of grass and gently run it around the edge of the sand trap to mimic an ant trying to escape. If the antlion is at home and hungry, you will soon know it is there as it shoots sand in the direction of the movement.

At this point deftly scoop up a handful of sand from beneath the trap – the soil will be quite sandy, so it is relatively easy to do so.

The next step is to cup your hand and wait. The inclination of the antlion will be to burrow and escape. When you feel a tickling in the palm of your hand you know you have it. That is unless you get a fright and drop the sand.
Slowly get rid of the sand until the antlion is left in your palm. Don’t worry about its pincers, they do not bite – at least I have never been bitten.

Size wise they get up to about 1 cm (2/5th inch) in length, before spinning a cocoon.

Life with Suzi - Creepy crawlies

Last night Suzi and I were sitting on the sofa when she let out a falsetto shriek and leapt off the couch and made a strategic withdrawal. I did not know what was happening and leapt up as well. She had seen a centipede crawling on my shoulder and it was in the process of climbing onto my face.

When I leapt up the centipede fell down and disappeared. I hunted high and low for it to no avail. I then sprayed liberal amounts of insect killer all around the sofa and the skirting boards. In the meantime Suzi was now sitting on one of the armchairs with her feet up and her skin crawling.

We carried on watching TV (constantly on the lookout for this creepy crawly) and about 15 minutes later I felt as though the skin on the lower left hand side of my back was crawling. I shifted forward, looked down and saw nothing and the sensation was gone. I made myself comfortable again and then saw a rather large centipede moving across my stomach. I quickly flicked it off me and onto the floor and then returned the compliment by walking on it. In the words of Monty Python, "It was no more, it had ceased to be, it had gone to meet its maker...." it was a late centipede.

I was not going to blog about this, but Shabby Girl did say, "I hope you all had a centipedelessly wonderful Monday!" Amazing how we shared similar experiences at about the same time, on opposite sides of the world.

Ecological day - Flightless dung beetles

Dung Beetles are found all over South African and perform a vital cleaning up job, even if they do not realise it themselves. Not exactly a job I would like, but then I was not born into it.



The Addo Flightless Dung Beetle only occurs in the Eastern Cape Province, in a small area, but it is fairly common within it's range. This terrestrial invertebrate occurs in habitats such as the Fish River scrub and Spekboomveld. They often congregate in 100's in the Addo Elephant National Park, which is the best place to see these special beetles.

The dung beetle is a member of the families Bolboceratidae and Scarabaeidae.

It is quite common within it's very restricted distribution and range, mostly in the main game area of the Addo Elephant National Park, but it also occurs in the rest of the Greater Addo National Park.

The dung beetle has right of way on the roads, but are often driven over by careless motorists.


The Addo Flightless Dung Beetle adults gather at African Elephant dung for feeding and at Cape Buffalo dung for feeding and breeding.


These insects shape the dung into large round balls, which are then rolled away to be buried. See Port Elizabeth Daily Photo for more pics.




The dung beetles only nest once a year and in this time period they produce only one young beetle. Their conservation status is vulnerable as they depend on 2 large herbivores for survival: Elephant and Buffalo, of which there are fortunately plenty in the Addo Elephant National Park.



For more on Ecological Day visit Sonia at Leaves of Grass.