Us fly-fishermen are a fairly obsessive bunch. Obsessing about fish mostly, and everything to do with catching them. I certainly do.
But as my good friend Roy has noticed, of late I have started to take note on the wonderful flowers we encounter when we go fishing. Here is a selection of what you can expect to see in the highlands of KwaZulu Natal if you take the time to notice. One day perhaps I will develop the skills required to identify them all properly, and maybe I will commit their names to memory.For now I just looked them up as best I could using the handbook that Roy gave me last year:
the Scarlet River lily (Hesperantha coccinea)
Watsonias in the upper Mooi River Valley
Yellow Crassula (Crassula vaginata)
Not too sure of this one, but that is a butterfly for sure!
One of the Moraea: possibly the Large Yellow Moraea (Moraea spathulata)
Not too sure of this one.
The Slender Poker (Kniphofia laxiflora)
The Veld Violet (Ruellia cordata)
Broad leaved Pentanisia (pentanisia prunelloides)
Possibly another scarlet river lily
A Candelabra Lilly in the valley of the Bushmans river
One of the Nerine’s…I think!
I struggled with this one
A Watsonia in the Umgeni river valley
The Large Pink Watsonia (Watsonia densiflora)
6 Responses
Thanks for a look at some of the wildflowers in your region. I’ve never been to Africa, so they’re new to me, although the blossom reminds me of our moth mullein. The lilies are beautiful. I’ve always been a follower of the wildflowers here, especially along the streams in springtime before the full growth of summer takes over. Keep an eye on them!
Thanks for reading. An interesting one above is the “Moraea”, since it flowers in the winter months…you can see the brown grasslands in the background…and this is in a very harsh frosty environment. Nature is remarkable!
I”m always amazed at the flora and fauna in South Africa. Much different than what we imagine. Beautiful.
Yes there is something a lot of us flyfishers share. The enjoyment of other things around us, the birdlife, the animals, the flowers, the trees and the beauty of the countryside we fish in. reminds me of the hymn “All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all”. Thanks again Andrew
I don’t know if it is an age thing on my part, but I also find myself taking time out from the fishing to spend a quiet moment just to absorb the beauty of the surrounding and enjoy the little thing like flowers and birds or a spider spinning its web – thank for sharing.
Thanks Peter, but with me starting to wear glasses to tie flies as from this week and your comment above, I realise that I am officially now one step closer to middle age, or some such milestone!! 🙂