http://www.reflectionsreserve.com Fri, 28 Oct 2011 06:02:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Recently, as more people are becoming aware of the need,  there has been an increase in the number of establishments that claim to be "Green" or environmentally conscious. This is fantastic and those that are making the effort deserve our support, but many others are making false claims, an example ... http://www.reflectionsreserve.com/what-makes-us-green/ Another of the Winter highlights of the Garden is the annual migration of the Half-collared Kingfishers from the sub tropical Wild Coast to our more temperate area. These large, magnificent Kingfishers are usually found on quiet  rivers with entangled, over hanging vegetation from which they plunge dive for their prey. ... http://www.reflectionsreserve.com/backwater-birding/ Orion is slowly sinking into the West and as Scorpio begins to rise you can feel that Winter has started to make its' mark. For me, one of the first signs of change is the high pitched call of the Malachite Sunbird. These magnificent birds are normally found much higher up, ... http://www.reflectionsreserve.com/winter-birding/ We recently had the pleasure of hosting Roddy and Rachel Bray here at Reflections. They are busy with an amazing project that has had them travelling between Cape Town and Kenya recording audio guided experiences with local specialists. They have an incredibly diverse group of people involved: covering the big ... http://www.reflectionsreserve.com/great-guides-for-the-garden-route/ We began a system a short while ago where we invited guests who have stayed with us at Reflections to assist with the planting of trees. The reason behind this was two-fold.The first was that it allows people to contribute towards improving the bio-diversity on the property and the second ... http://www.reflectionsreserve.com/tree-planting/ Spring has, once again, been spectacular. Mass displays of pale yellow wild Iris's, pink Daisies, yellow Bietou and golden Ursinia. One that I always wait for with great anticipation is the flowering of the Orchid's. We get a couple of different species such as Disa, Satyrium and Bonatea. [caption id="attachment_237" align="alignnone" ... http://www.reflectionsreserve.com/summer-sensations/ Frost in the mornings glistening in the sun Aloe flowers like tongues of flame lighting up the bush Sunbirds dashing from one flower to the next like iridescent jewels Woodsmoke in the evenings from bonfires And spectacular sunrises that slowly banish the mist from the water What a fantastic time of year ... http://www.reflectionsreserve.com/winter-begins/ The benefits of our rehabilitation are really starting to become apparent and one of the things we have noticed is an increase in insect diversity. When we began this project we saw few insects. We would see the big bumbling Carpenter Bees as they moved around the Keurboom trees, we ... http://www.reflectionsreserve.com/all-creatures-great-and-small/ We have just had new pictures taken of the houses and the results are fantastic. I think they do far more justice to what we have. More photographs may be viewed on the Accommodation page. [caption id="attachment_141" align="alignnone" width="487" caption="House Interior"][/caption] http://www.reflectionsreserve.com/new-photographs-of-our-houses/ [caption id="attachment_130" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="White Dune Freesia"][/caption] For many people travelling up the South East coast of South Africa the name  Garden Route" is a misnomer as there is no garden and the floral diversity does not compete with other parts of the country. In part this is ... http://www.reflectionsreserve.com/spring-splendour/