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Silvermine turns out to be a gold mine for pollinators - 01:33 pm

06 May 2009

When we woke today we couldn’t see further than 5m. The fog had come in during the night and was sitting heavily on top of the whole mountain range. So we sat back for a while and put on another jersey…drank another cup of tea.

Finally – in the early afternoon we could see again and so headed out towards Sivermine

It turned out to be a good plan. The light was beautiful and the fynbos lush and flower-filled.

Past fire was evident here as well – but from a while back and one not intense enough to kill the protea and leucodendron bushes. They bore dead flower heads but also new bright, nectar-filled ones.

It was an afternoon for pollinators. The Cape sugarbird is extreme in its display plumage. The ribbon tail is flown like a flag.

And flitting through, visiting the protea flowers – numerous sunbirds like this orange breasted sunbird. These birds are so important as pollinators here and no doubt have extremely specialised relationships with the plants.

The birds are miraculous to watch. They’re also damn difficult to film as they don’t sit still for long. But Paul managed to get a number of them as they displayed in the air or settled on a flower to probe for nectar with their specialised beaks.

If you look closely though there are so many creatures taking advantage of the sugars on offer by the protea. Each flower head is crawling with beetles and mites. The flora may be dominant in this landscape, but it supports a great deal.

This bee has burrowed right into the very heart of the flower head. It can hardly be seen.

It was an afternoon of pollinators without a doubt. There are so many specialised stories here to tell but they’ll need a lot more time to investigate. We headed off only when the light went. Tomorrow we’re hoping to go somewhere quite special – a place where fire has been excluded since 1933. But the weather forecast is dire. Fingers crossed.