BUTTERFLY EXPERT FINDS 11 SPECIES ON HIS FIRST MOUNTAIN VISIT

Fanie Rautenbach, a biochemist who looks for and photographs butterflies as a hobby, delighted us with a whole lot of butterfly photographs after his first visit up the mountain. He said he had a great day.

I found 11 species 9 of which I did get photos of....... It was a bit windy up on the mountain and then they tend to sit with their wings closed (hence some of the photos are from file). Let me explain to you how I know the species. There is a website hosted by die Animal Demographics Unit at UCT in collaboration with the Butterfly Association of South Africa. I submit the photos I have taken on this website and they have experts that look at them and confirm the species. You can have a look at the website, the address is: http://vmus.adu.org.za/.. Interestingly, if (under the butterfly logo SABCA) you type in “Paardeberg” there is one butterfly record (for the moment, I have submitted the photos taken on Saturday, but it will only appear once the experts had a look at it) that comes up for a “Burnished opal” in March 2005 (Delport, M). You will see only a grid reference (3318CD) but if you are a registered user it gives you a more precise location and it is your place (Fynbos retreat). So that is another species that I can look out for next month. Click on the butterfly (SABCA) logo and it will take you to a search engine (you don’t have to be registered). If you type my surname and initial (Rautenbach F) in the simple search part, you can see all of the photos I have taken
Fanie also talked about the dying out of butterflies due to urban development and industry so that it is only in areas like the Paardeberg that they survive. Long may we provide a home for them and any help you can give us Fanie in this regard is welcome.


1 African grass 2 African Monarch 3 Cape Black-eye 4 Common geranium bronze 5 Cupreous blue 6 Meadow white 7 Mountain sandman, 8 Pea blue and 9 Vivid dotted blue. The two butterflies I did not get photos off, are the Citrus swallowtail and the African clouded yellow. Thank you for the opportunity to visit your estate, I am looking forward to my next visit.