Work has continued at Rais this summer, despite me not being there and of course the incredible heat wave that I have completely missed - typical!Ant, Simon, Helen, Flee and Tracey have regularly been working at Rais as well as spending camping weekends and hosting visitors in my absence. I can't thank them all enough, not only for the work of course, but also for the photos and the snippets of news which brighten my days.
Simon tells me that the usual summer job of bracken pulling was not quite as big a task this year, and in the wayleave in particular the amount of bracken was greatly reduced. It seems that a combination of the previous year’s hand-pulling and the grass getting really established now has made a big difference. The areas more recently cleared of rhodie, on the east side of the wood, are still quite dense though - which is as to be expected when you suddenly allow sunlight to hit the ground for the first time in decades. Let's hope more wildflowers are also awoken from their forced slumber due to light deprivation.
The prolonged hot, dry weather would have affected all the flora and fauna throughout the wood, but the grass in the wayleave has survived well. The stream eventually ran dry and the trees suffered with the heat, shedding leaves to conserve water as necessary. I wish I could have seen it, but Simon says at some times there seemed as many leaves underfoot as there are in autumn - so the canopy is also noticeably thinner than previous years. I am sincerely hoping the drought hasn't claimed our sapling oaks that were planted last year to fill the gaps left by rhodies.
Whilst I am out in Zambia, fighting a war against the tsetse flies, it seems the hot weather has caused a similar war at Rais with their cousins, the horse flies. Apparently all the woodland workers and visitors alike have had their fair share of attention from these bloodsuckers. So I feel somewhat a part of the woodland suffering out here even though I am not there in person.
Along with the bracken clearing, the ongoing job of digging out rhodie roots has also continued, although understandably mainly in the shadier areas due to the extreme temperatures. Housekeeping tasks during the good weather have included adding chicken wire to the deck, which will hopefully make it less of a slip hazard during the winter, and a second extension to the wood store to increase the amount of firewood that can be kept dry.
After several years the mice have finally discovered that the sheds contain an almost unlimited amount of food and eaten their way through the plastic storage containers so all the food has now been moved into metal storage bins, much to the dismay of the mice!Now the summer is starting to draw to a close the last bracken will shortly be pulled for this year and after that the rhodie clearance will no doubt begin again in earnest.
So as we head into my favourite season in the UK, I am missing home more than ever. I miss the autumn colours and whilst I am enjoying amazing African sunsets right now, autumn is the best time of year in the UK to see incredible cloudscapes at dusk.
It's harvest time, a time of nuts and berries, bonfires and blankets. A time to forage, fatten, store and preserve in readiness for the cold winds and frosty air. The temperature here in Zambia is easily topping 30 degrees every day and will be climbing still for the next few months.... where the mercury will be doing the opposite back home.
By the time I board that plane bound for Heathrow next January, I will have spent the best part of a year exploring the lowveld of South Africa, the Mashatu reserve in Botswana, Makuleke concession in northern Kruger and the Kafue national park in Zambia. What an experience, a dream fulfilled. The knowledge and understanding I have acquired has also given me a thirst to explore every inch of Rais when I return. I want to know as much as I can about our own ecosystems, in the same way I now know so much more about the African natural world than I could ever have imagined.
