Editor's note

Our mandate for The Leopard’s Echo is to highlight the amazing biodiversity of our area on the assumption that a better-informed public is more likely to protect our “environmental treasures”. We do this by asking our regular species authors (most are also members of the Kloof Conservancy) to write on a specific theme for each edition, but we do occasionally have the privilege to include articles from guest authors and in this edition, we have two very special contributors in Prof Neil Crouch and Dr Shane McPherson.

Neil is a Kloof resident and one of the most knowledgeable persons on our local flora having spent many years “hunting” plants in Kloof Gorge and also featured in the Eco-Impi interview in the 2017 Summer – Autumn edition of this magazine. Since then he has featured with several articles on specific local plant species and we are welcoming him back for this edition with an article on a very special plant that needs turbulence to survive! Most hikers in the Kloof Gorge will be focussing on safely crossing the Molweni River and will be blissfully unaware of this plant which lives in the fastest flowing sections of the river.

Our second guest author is well known Crowned Eagle researcher Dr Shane McPherson. The Crowned Eagles are the most iconic bird species of our area and we regularly feature their progress on our Facebook page and e-newsletters. Shane also presents what has become an annual talk for the conservancy, updating us on his team’s research. Shane also wrote an article for us, Crowned Eagles in the Big City which appeared in the 2018 Winter – Spring edition of the magazine. Since then, the technology for tracking and monitoring raptors has improved at an exponential rate and enabled the research team to study the eagles in ways that were unimaginable a few years ago. In this edition Shane updates us on the research and findings of the past year or so.

We continue in this edition with the articles from Charles and Julia Botha who encourage our readers to use indigenous plants to attract wildlife to their gardens. In this edition they feature the Bush Tick-berry (Osteospermum moniliferum).

Arend Hoogervorst continues with his incisive Opinion Column and in this edition, he asks the question “How much is “the environment” worth?”. Is it all about money or is there more to it?

In the last edition our regular species authors excelled themselves in describing the “reproduction” processes of their species and for this edition the remit was a follow-up and they were tasked to enlighten our readers on how their species look after their offspring. The task was relatively simple for our bird expert Nicolette Forbes as much is known about the nesting behaviour of birds. Nicolette has once again produced an outstanding, well researched and interesting article providing us with insights which many of us may not be aware of. The task for the other authors however proved somewhat more challenging! Nesting behaviour for reptiles, frogs, butterflies and other insects? I was concerned that the remit may have been a ‘bridge too far” but the authors once again rose to the occasion. Pat McKrill combined his usual humour with his practical experiences with reptiles while Dr Jeanne Tarrant dug deep into her research background to describe the frog species which surprisingly do nurture their young! For Steve Woodhall and Dr Marlies Craig the challenge was formidable, but they have nevertheless once again produced insightful, informative and entertaining articles. Did you know that Stick Insects outsource their nesting business?

I do have to commend the species authors for their resilience in coping with the “challenges” put to them and writing the articles on a biannual basis. They always need to do significant research on the theme and then wordsmith it into articles which do take significant time and effort to prepare. Their contribution to “Inspiring change” is much appreciated! 

Thank you also to our Graphics Editor, Jo Sobey who has the unenvious task of taking all the words and images and packaging it all into the beautifully laid out magazine we present to you.

Paolo Candotti
January 2026