My brother together with Terrance the guy in the picture, safely and umharmed got this big beautu into a bucket. For a few days now they keep seeing a snake by the pallats, but keeps dissapearing about 30 minutes ago, they saw the snale again and safely re-located it into the field not to far from the workshop. I am very proud of them for handling the snak woth such love and care. Snake was released safely and unharmed.

Mimetes chrysanthus cn

The Outramps discovered the 2nd only colony of Mimetes chrysanthus in 1996 when we were working for the Protea Atlas Project. The first colony was found 100kms to the west at Gamkaberg in 1987. It was one of the most exciting and memorable moments in our lives. This is why I have chosen it for the iSpot Celebratory Launch.

It is also a tribute to Casey Nootenboom who produced the most stunning photographs over the years for the Outramps. Health issues now prevent his joining us on field trips, but his wonderful photos will remain a lasting legacy.

We live out in the sticks far away from the corridors of botanical power. For us, iSpot has been a life-changing experience. We now have a whole community of like-minded people and experts to help us. The linking of the Red List to iSpot has made a huge difference to the work we do for CREW.

Thank you Tony, for all your help and enthusiasm and for making it so much fun. Long live iSpot!!

Mimetes chrysanthus is Redlisted as Vulnerable

Cytinus capensis flower info

Parasitic plant producing deep red flowers in clusters that protrude above ground. Males and females produced on separate plants (dioecious). Not scented (at least not what humans can detect). Flowers comprise only 4 very dark maroon-coloured perianth lobes with inclined hairs covering most of their surface except for the margins. Confined to the Cape Peninsula (so far). This plant has only been available for study as a result of its discovery by amateur botanists.These piccies were taken after Jayne McDermid and Marland Holderness had found the plants and let me know about them.

Rat caught in a DOC200 trap.
2 weeks between its first visit to trap and being caught (see 974739). Bait: Peanut butter.

Female, body length aprox 20cm, tail 15cm, weight aprox 160gm.

Second photo is from a monitoring infrared webcam and is the product of low light levels and slow shutter speeds - simultaneously showing the live rat, the trigged trap closing and the closed trap (so we have a photo of a simultaneously alive and dead rat).

see also 975015