Smile dammit - It's spring!

That is the new phrase for 94.7 Highveld Stereo...and I kind of like it, because it is surely a Lepidopterist favourite time of the year. It is wonderful to see all the flowers blooming, the air smells fresh after we received our first rains here in the Highveld and all the birds are up early to great a new day.

Conference 2011 - Cape Town

And so another conference came and gone. We all want to thank Andrew and Tarryn for all their hard work during this weekend, we had lots of fun. A thank you goes out to Jeff and his wife Ruth too for all their support and organizing of the conference. Also for a very interesting program this year. For more pictures of the conference, you can read more on the forum page under Social Discussions.

Steve Woodhall and the KZN team also wrote a lovely article of their trip from Durban to Cape Town. It seems that he enjoyed it so much, that it was it quite a lengthy article that he had to split it into Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3.

Life history of butterflies

Raimund Schutte posted a very interesting article of the forum of the life history of Junonia oenone oenone Blue Pansy. I think this is fantastic and I encourage you to do more projects like this that we can promote at schools for biology project and the teach children more about conservation. Well done!

Gauteng Branch News

It has been a busy season so far with three weekend outings to various provinces, which is always great fun, two field trips and here and there individual field trips.

Weekend outings:

The first weekend that was organized for the weekend was to Ezemvelo in Gauteng/Mpumalanga early September. It was a great weekend with lots of fun and chatting next to cozy fire. It was still a bit cool and we thought that we might be a bit to early for the season, but for the butterflies we saw, we were quite happy.

It was the start of the World Cup in New Zealand, as well as the opening match for South Africa against Wales. We had to make the best of it, and luckily at the one spot where stopped the Sunday morning, we could tune in on the radio to listen to the match. It is quite difficult for a rugby loving nation like South Africa's Lepidopterist to to be out in the field and to listen to the rugby. Have a look at the video clip of Peter, Justin and Andrè.

I manage to take a video clip of a Platylesches dolomitica couple mating. I was quite fortunate to see this, and for those that did not have the honours yet to see this, here is the video clip.

Our second group outing was to Lekgalameetse in Limpopo in mid October. Steve also joined us for this outing, which was just unbelievable. Mark, you were right, this place is magical. We were privilege to see Lepidopchrysops Lotana on our first morning out, but there were not many flying that the wind blew quite strongly.

Our third trip was to Baberton in Mpumalanga. It seem as if we are targeting Mpumalanga this year...but that is not the case, it just worked out like that.

It was quite an eventful 4 x 4 weekend and bodies shook like those little doggies on the dash board in the olden days. We saw beautiful scenery of green hilltops and waterfalls.

Field trips:

A group of a few people went out with Ian Engelbrecht from Gauteng Nature Conservation to look at a possible new locality for Lepidopchrysops praeterita in the western parts of Gauteng. Ian did manage to find a new spot, using his location software. We also visit a place in the northern part of Pretoria, called Enkeldoornpoort.

Individual trips:

Raimund Schutte took a trip to the Magalies to Utopia, where he got stunning photographs of Aphnaeus hutchinsonii Hutchinson's High-flier.

He also visited Mapochs Hills near Roossenekal and manage to get photos of Dingana angusta.

KZN Branch News

Michael Purves is a very busy guy with various breeding programmes that he is busy with. And one can understand why he got the Ivan Bampton Teapot trophy for all the work that he is doing. Here is some interesting projects and findings:

New foodplant for Belenios creona severina African Common White

Pie on Pycnostachys and a Bronze on Bridelia
New foodplant for possible Mylothris agathina agathina Common Dotted Border

Western Cape

After a very successful conference, the guys there still had a little bit of energy left to go out and look for butterflies.

Jeff Crocombe visited a few places in the beginning of the new season.

One of them was Kogelberg & Kleinmond.

He also made a turn to Du Toit's Kloof Pass a few time, scratching in the bushes...as well as Franschoek Pass .

When we visited Cape Town in September, we also made use of the opportunity to go out and add a few Western Cape species to our list. We took a drive out to Strandfontein and Yzerfontein.

It is with great sadness that we bid you farewell Jeff and Ruth. We hope that you will enjoy your new challenge in Papua New Guinea for work purposes.

We hope to see you back after you time there.

Suitcase "Blues"

In July, we visited a cute little cottage near Kaapschehoop. We fell in love with the place the minute we saw it, and want to go back there some or other time. It is called Fever Tree Cottage.

It is a very romantic spot, and ideal for the male members of LepSoc to make up for all the days and weekends that you are not home chasing after butterflies, leaving you wife's at home.

Edible "Tips"

It almost summer, away with the soup and hello refreshing salads...

My husband and I enjoy our salad and with having such busy schedules, we don't have the time to stand in front of the stove for hours. So the other night I made a delicious Lime and Chilli broccoli salad , and thought I would share it with you.