rgcooper2023's Journal
Official identification and confirmation study of a wild rodent species (Apodemus sylvaticus) that has significant impacts on crops including wheat, corn/maize and oats, and hence poses a threat to feed of livestock, including poultry, and humans.
Cooper, R.G. (2023) European Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) iNaturalist 11th August.
The Big Tree growing in Chirinda Forest in Mt. Selinda, Zimbabwe, is the tallest indigenous tree in Zimbabwe, and a declared National Monument. The tree is 65 metres tall and 4.5 metres wide. Its age is approximately 1,000 years. The tree is located in the centre of Chirinda Forest (formerly known as Selinda) in southeast Zimbabwe at the southernmost part of the country's Eastern Highlands. Big Tree is a Khaya anthotheca or Nyasa redwood tree (previously referred to as Khaya nyasica). In December 1986, it reached 65 metres tall[1] and 5.25 metres wide. The trunk is heavily buttressed at the base, which complicates measurement. Big Tree is protected within the Chirinda Forest Botanical Reserve, administered by Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Estate. It sustained damage from people carving their initials into it. The tree is dying, indicated by its declining height and the loss of its topmost branches. Whether this is due to human damage or a natural process is unknown. I first observed this impressive tree in 2001 and photographed it. I included a description of it in my book, ‘The Flame Lily Weeps’ published by Pneumasprings Press Ltd.
This unique autobiography describes the life of a white Zimbabwean growing up in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe-Rhodesia and subsequently after the attainment of independence on 18th April 1980, in Zimbabwe, and, thereafter, his move and settling in the UK. It provides a comfortable, quick read and is not meant to be an exhaustive family, historical or political account. Instead, it was born from a desire to reveal and elucidate the perspectives and truth of poignant issues in the country’s transition from a British colony to an independent, one party state. This book also grants the reader an insight into the build-up of political and economic anarchy that has plunged Zimbabwe into a financial abyss and transformed the "bread-basket" of Africa, a once flourishing country, into a land ravaged by hunger, disease and poverty. Captivating and highly recommended!
https://www.pneumasprings.co.uk/product/the-flame-lily-weeps/
On a sunny, partly cloudy afternoon on the 13th August 2023, a dragon fly (4cm in length) with a reddish abdomen alighted onto an old railway sleeper on the bank of the main reservoir of the Lime Pits Nature Reserve, Rushall, UK (accessible on a footpath at the end of Leigh Road through a field of horses of Rushall Hall; via a car park at the end of Park Road just after crossing Daw End Bridge; via a barge on Rushall Canal approximately mid-way between Daw End and Riddian Bridges; or even on a bicycle along Beacon Way). Rushall Canal runs adjacent to the entrance on Park Road and the waters of the main reservoir are said to be connected via subterranean tunnels to Hatherton Lake located in the Arboretum. Long abandoned, the nature reserve is historically important as a place where lime was quarried to supply the steel furnaces of the Black Country. Its preservation has resulted in beautiful pools and lime suspended in channels of clear water, creating a shiny, entrancing marbling effect. It supports an abundance of flora and fauna including wild plums, shoals of bream, birdlife, rodents, foxes and numerous insects. One example thereof was photographed. Indeed, the dragonfly hovered tentatively in the sunshine before settling down and facing itself towards the direction of the main reservoir in the hope of darting out and capturing a midge or fly. According to the British Dragon-fly Society classification, it is a mature male Red-Veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii) with a red frons and thorax, a single pale stripe on the side of the thorax, red wing veins, yellow wing bases, eyes (brown above and blue below) and pale pterostigma outlined in black, that breeds in large shallow water bodied. Since the 1980’s, records show that it is a fairly frequent migrant, although colonies are not stable. Its flight period is prominent in June-August.
A captive Daphnia magna from a local pond and its cultivation in a tank within a laboratory environment (x40 magnification, 1000um in length). Collection and microscopic observation of Dahnia magna are important to help study its life cycle, reproduction, feeding and heart beat within a welled slide. After use, they can be safely returned to their tank. They reproduce rapidly in captivity. These are ideal conditions to keep Daphnia in a tank: pH 7-8.6; O2d >6mg/L; hardness 160-180mg CaCo3/L; and light 16hr. light/8hr/dark. Feed them on pond algae.
This is a common flightless insect pet that feeds on privet leaves. The first image is of a juvenile. The second is of adults feeding on fresh privet leaves. They were originally collected in Tamil Nadu, India, but are commonly kept in cultures in captivity. The British also brought them back from India to Britain. They commonly live one year and lay their own eggs. Indian stick insects will reproduce in captivity even in the absence of a male, this is called parthenogenetic reproduction. Mature females will lay unfertilised eggs, that will still develop and hatch into nymphs without mating ever taking place. Any of the offspring produced asexually will be female and are often clones of their parents. When females reach adulthood they will begin to lay relatively small numbers of round eggs (ova) around 2mm in size, over their lifetime this can add up to hundreds. The ova are dark brown in colour and look like seeds. They can be carefully collected from the bottom of the cage and separated from any fallen plant matter and dried faeces; using small tweezers or a paint brush. Incubate the ova on dry tissue or vermiculite in a sealed container at room temperature. They normally take four months or more to hatch. Raise newly hatched nymphs separately to your adults for ease of maintenance and offer fresh food frequently. A mist spray of water is needed on the sides of their tank.
A giant, unique, native Zimbabwean stick insect that has wings and lives off fresh shoots and twigs, including bark, plus various grasses, is an astonishing sight in and usually observed in Matabeleland in Zimbabwe. It is unknown if it is a protected species. Thanks to Ian McFarlane for assisting in spotting this giant of the insect world on his property in Hillside, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
