We have two old baths filled with all our organic waste which is broken down to compost and lacheate liquid by the red wriggly worms. The brown liquid is full of goodness and we use it on our struggling trees as a boost.
Eisenia fetida
Eisenia fetida (older spelling: foetida), known under various common names such as redworm, brandling worm, panfish worm, trout worm, tiger worm, red wiggler worm, etc., is a species of earthworm adapted to decaying organic material. These worms thrive in rotting vegetation, compost, and manure. They are epigean, rarely found in soil. In this trait, they resemble Lumbricus rubellus.Eisenia fetida
They have groups of bristles (called setae) on each segment that move in and out to grip nearby surfaces as the worms stretch and contract their muscles to push themselves forward or backward.
E. fetida worms are used for vermicomposting of both domestic and industrial organic waste. They are native to Europe, but have been introduced (both intentionally and unintentionally) to every other continent except Antarctica. Tiger worms are also being tested for use in a flushless toilet, currently being trialled in India, Uganda and Myanmar.
E. fetida also possess a unique natural defense system in their coelomic fluid: cells called coelomocytes secrete a protein called lysenin, which is a pore-forming toxin (PFT), which is able to permeabilize and lyse invading cells. It is best at targeting foreign cells whose membranes contain significant amounts of sphingomyelin. (Lysenin is also toxic to organisms lacking sphingomyelin in their cell walls, including B. megaterium, though the pathway is not understood).
While walking on the farm I came across this plant under an Acacia tree. It was attracting a lot of flies so assumed it had a smell. On trying to find out more about it I received the following information which I thought was very interesting. It is a first for us on Hilton Farm
Sarcophyte sanguinea Sparrm. subsp. sanguinea
Family: Balanophoraceae
Common names: wolwekos (Afr.); ihlule, umavumbuka (isiZulu)
Sarcophyte sanguinea subsp. sanguinea is a parasitic plant that occurs on the roots of trees and shrubs, especially on African acacias (Vachellia species). This plant has a foul smell that attracts a number of different insects and its striking red colour, creates an easier way for attracting pollinators from a distance.
Description
This plant species resembles fungi, rather than flowering plants. It is a reddish, fleshy parasite with tuberous roots. It is dioecious, i.e. male and female flowers are on separate plants. The male plant usually grows up to 300 mm high, whereas the female plant is shorter. The leaves are reduced to scales. The inflorescence is branched with the male inflorescence narrower and taller than the female, which is shorter, denser, rounder and fleshy.
The male flowers have white anthers that open by apical pores and release masses of smooth and oval-shaped pollen.
The female flowers consist of peltate, sessile stigmas just above the ovaries, that are embedded in a common, swollen receptacle. A single receptacle accommodates up to 200 individual florets. At least 250 of the receptacles make up an inflorescence. Thus, over 50 000 florets may be found in a single inflorescence. Female florets expose only flattened stigmas to receive pollen from pollinators. The stigmas are almost less than 1 mm in diameter. The fruit is a compound, syncarp, with each individual fruit a pseudo-berry. It can be found flowering almost throughout the year.
Conservation Status
Sarcophyte sanguinea subsp. sanguinea is of Least Concern (LC) according to the Red List of South African plants. It is, therefore, considered not to be under any immediate risk of extinction.
Distribution and habitat
Sarcophyte sanguinea subsp. sanguinea occurs in summer rainfall regions of eastern and southern Africa, from Ethiopia and Somalia in the north, southwards to South Africa. It is not endemic to South Africa, but it is widely distributed in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces.
Derivation of name and historical aspects
The name Sarcophyte, meaning ‘flesh/fleshy plant’, is derived from the Greek words sarx, meaning ‘flesh’ and phyton, meaning ‘plant’. Sanguinea, means ‘blood-red’ and refers to the red colour of the plant.
There is another subspecies known as Sarcophyte sanguinea subsp. piriei Hutch. The subspecies piriei, unlike subsp. sanguinea, has a fruity smell. Further distinguishing characters include the male inflorescences which are up to 400 mm tall (female ones are shorter); flesh-coloured to purplish red except for the pale bracts; tepals of male flowers that are about twice as long as the stamens; pollen grains that are smooth. The subsp. piriei is widely distributed in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.
Ecology
Sarcophyte sanguinea occurs in woodlands, riverine forests, thickets and bordering savanna, from sea-level up to 2 000 m altitude. It is a holoparasite occurring on the roots of a wide variety of trees, including Vachellia (= Acacia), Hyphaene, Commiphora, Ficus, Faidherbia albida and Mimusops obtusifolia. The pollinators are attracted by its foul smell and striking red colour.
Uses
The rural women of the Mbazwana area in KwaZulu-Natal Province (South Africa) use the stem to treat wounds, diarrhoea and dysentery. This plant is also used traditionally to treat dysentery, sore throat, swollen glands, and irregular menstruation. It is applied externally to treat bruises and toothache, and a whole plant decoction is drunk to treat cancer in Tanzania.
Growing Sarcophyte sanguinea subsp. sanguinea
Although the authors have no experience in growing this plant, it is apparently easy to propagate by seed.
We are incredibly lucky to be in a space that allows for us to walk in the beauty nature has to offer. We walk whenever we get the chance and this weekend was no different, except that we were blessed with the company of plenty of snakes. With the warmer Autumn days we have been having, there have been a number of snakes out and about making the most of the suns rays before going into winter hibernation. Here at Hilton, we appreciate and treasure all the animals that choose to make this space their home – no matter how weird or wonderful. We respect their presence as long as they are not in our space.
On one of our walks this weekend, John and I came across a Cape Cobra making a meal of another snake that we could not identify. On closer inspection, the Cape Cobra abandoned it meal and retreated to its hole. This gave us an opportunity to get a closer look at the smaller snake. Later that evening, we used the pictures I had taken in our attempt to identify the snake. It turned out to be a Rhombic Night Adder, easily identified by the dark V on it’s head. In the process of doing so, we came across a very handy app for anyone interested – The African Snakebite Institute. Not only does it cover snake profiles, but it also has information on scorpions and spiders as well as having some awesome posters.
This is a very nice app for identifying snakes, scorpions or spiders in South Africa. See the link below for more information:
On one of her runs, the smell of something dead led Jess to the remains of a warthog. Not much more than two hocks and some intestines. On closer inspection, the hocks were sliced perfectly and the intestines looked to have been dragged into the bush – with a few bits scattered around. As with all cases like this on the farm, we have to ask ourselves “What happened?”
Could it be a leopard kill? Brown hyena? Or, a harder reality to acknowledge, poachers?
We have had leopard before and for the past few years there have been signs of a resident Brown hyena. More recently however, we have experienced unusual occurrences around the farm. John was checking on cattle one evening – just before dark. On his return to the car, he was alerted by an odd yapping he described as being similar to that of a small dog. Moments later, he said what followed was a deep, grunting growl that made his blood run cold. On another occasion, Jessica was walking through the veld and came across a rather large – what looked like, dog print. As for the animals on the farm, they have been acting out of sorts the last few nights. The kudu have been barking, the baboons have been restless and Jessica is certain she heard the guttural call of a leopard.
We have spoken to many professionals and it seems as though the behaviour we have described points to either or. Apparently a leopard will chew through the skin of its victim, cutting it like a knife, to get to any meat – this would explain the perfectly sliced skin on the hocks. But, according to our vet, the yapping and growl are common to a Brown hyena disciplining her pups. But, until we have any proof of what our new guest may be, we can only guess.
One thing is for certain, we still haven’t got any answers to the time old debate – hyena or leopard? But maybe it isn’t a question of whether it is one or the other, maybe we have both and the real question is – which did what?
It started on Saturday afternoon. We had been hearing a lot of noise coming from the Greater Striped Swallows nest in the window of the shed however, we had not had the opportunity to identify the suspect. That was until Jessica found a juvenile bird hopping around near the Shearing Shed. It turned out to be a juvenile Greater Honeyguide. These birds are parasitises (in other words, these birds lay their eggs in a brood nest) and their host species are none other than the Greater Striped Swallow.
On Sunday morning, Jessica was woken by the sounds of distress. On further inspection, she was able to confirm that it was coming from the Lesser Striped Swallows – these little guys have a habit of building their nests in our hallway. It turned out that the chicks were getting the hang of their wings under the careful eye of their parents. They had’t quite perfected the flying thing, and didn’t seem to understand the concept of walls – they kept flying into them! Fortunately, Jess rescued them from the Jack Russel and set them off for a flying lesson with the parents outside. At the end of the day, the whole family were back making lots of noise, and by the looks of things the two chicks had improved their flying skills dramatically – at least now they understand that you can’t fly through a wall!
A cup of coffee later and it was on to the next rescue mission. During the Winter we empty the pool as it is too difficult to keep clean with all the oak leaves – and not to mention too cold to swim! There is a small puddle of water at the bottom of the pool that has become a perfect breeding ground for the African clawed frog – more commonly known as the Platanna. These are frogs common to South African waters and are the only frogs found to have clawed toes – they get their name from the three claws found on their hind feet with which they use to tear apart their chosen snack. Despite this terrifying thought, they are actually harmless. Today’s mission was the “Platanna Relocation Project”. We caught them in the pool net, placed them in a bucket and released them into a dam with far better living conditions for the frogs.
After 20 years back at Hilton Farm we are so excited to see regular sightings of the Red Billed oxpeckers on the cattle. John has been careful not to use dips that are poisonous to the birdlife on the farm. These birds were released into the nearby game farms & have obviously done well. We have seen a group of about 16 with the cattle. They are quite wild so we cannot get too close. However, we did have some visit the stock near the house last week. We are not sure if these are the same ones or a different group. What better way to control ticks than the natural way!
While we still had a little lucern on the lands we got in some sheep to fatten, together with my brother Dave. Whenever there is a parcel going cheap at the sales they arrive at Hilton. Even though there is no more lucern, Dave keeps the sheep coming. So, we now have to feed them mielies every day to boost their diet. This has become part of the daily routine on the farm and the sheep have come to learn that a man with a bag, is a man with food! Spending so much time with them, one grows quite fond of them. It certainly has not been all plain sailing – any farmer will tell you that sheep are high maintenance! On one occasion we arrived home to find all the sheep in a land of young pecan nut trees. Only little stalks of the trees remained. Fortunately, the trees did bounce back quite nicely – so we’ll see it as very fine pruning!
Last week end we heard our poultry going beserk. They were obviously unhappy. I went out to find the chickens cowering in the laundry, the guinea fowls taking refuge in the garage & the peacocks trying to hide. I discovered the juvenile Black Sparrowhawk on the aviary eyeing the doves. He returned several times over the weekend. Even the birds tried to chase it off. It seemed to move off during the week as there is too much activity around the yard. When we heard the same commotion this morning I went out expecting to find the Black Sparrowhawk back. On closer inspection it turned out to be a huge water monitor (leguvaan) in the chicken house. It had already eaten a clutch of eggs. Unfortunately we had to kill it.
Somehow the animals seem to know when the yard is quiet, and with John flat on his back after a back op and staff all off for pay weekend there is not much activity around at the moment. I even came face to face with 2 warthog trotting into the yard. I’m not sure who got the bigger fright!!
On Sunday Grant Solely from next door arranged to capture some impala for a customer. We started with about 10 and they have now bred up to over a hundred in 15 years. We woke to the big trucks arriving and the set up began. At about 10.30am we heard the whirl of the helicopter and rushed off to watch the proceedings from across the valley. The buck are quite wild so it took a lot of skill to get them heading in the right direction. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding and the entrance was closed so the herd broke away. Unfortunately we won’t be able to attempt the capture until next year. The good news is that he spotted a breeding ram which he will come and dart for a nice price!!
Since seeing the leopard in July, there was a lot of of talk about stock being taken. Neighboring farms shared reports of losing stock or animals behaving oddly. Eventually, Craig Rippon, near Alicedale, got some pictures on his trail camera of a big male coming to drink. All this was enough evidence for us to confirm that it existed. As a family with a strong appreciation for nature and wildlife, we were adamant about capturing it before it got shot.
We got in touch with nearby Game Farms and discussed the relocation of the animal in the case that we were able to capture it. We borrowed a large cage from Kwandwe and set some smaller ones with fish & warthog. The large trap actually went off but a branch prevented it from closing so the animal got away. Unfortunately, we could not confirm that this was the leopard’s doing as we have a few animals on the farm that feast on rotting carcasses.
The Leopard Cage from Kwandwe
On the 20th August Chris Matthews & Daine Kruger went off to hunt warthog just before 9.00am. They noted that when they had walked past the cage, it was empty. At 9.30am Billy Scott drove up and did a U-turn at the cage and nearly freaked when a leopard jumped out at him from in the cage. From that moment the team from Kwandwe were mobilized, and people came from all sides to see. The vet and his team darted the stunning animal and proceeded to take their time taking bloods, checking it for a chip & measuring it. It was so amazing, yet chilling to see it at such close quarters.
A week before I was birding at our pump house along the river when I heard a scary noise – a low, grumble of sorts, one that sunk right to the bone. I ran home to tell John and, as one does to tall tales, he brushed it off as Otters playing. When I heard the leopard growl in the cage, I went cold as ice – it was exactly what I heard at the pump house.
The cage it was caught in.
The vets working with the leopard
It was fitted with a collar and sent off to Amakhala to be held in a boma before being sent to Kariega. We decided Kwandwe was too close and the risk of the leopard returning was too high. Unfortunately, despite the caution taken, it got out the 3.5m electrified boma on the first night. They were able to track it for a while but eventually went out of range. We are convinced it is working its way back to Hilton – I guess we’re not the only one’s who can’t get enough of our little paradise! While it was away, a calf was taken at Slaai Kraal and they saw paw marks of what we presume is a female & cub. It will be interesting to see if the male is back.
The Rhombic Night Adder
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