Happy, happy new year to you (even though I realise it is February already)! I hope it is a truly blessed 2026 for you and your families.

Welcome to issue number 42!

Over the last 5 years I have had the privilege of being exposed to some incredible conservation and community development work being done in South Africa and Africa. I have also really enjoyed working alongside my friend and now business partner; Graham Mitchell, and thinking deeply about how businesses can embark on a journey towards sustainable and positive transformation that leaves a legacy.

One thing that is evident is that repeated, small steps in the right direction can have massive positive impact over the medium and long term. Graham recently published a book called “Compounding Advantage – How Small Steps Build Big Businesses”. In his words “the book brings together lessons from years of working alongside founders and leadership teams – seeing firsthand how small, disciplined actions, applied consistently, can compound into significant business growth”.

In the last few months I got to experience a couple of independent events that were incredibly encouraging and helped demonstrate this point in the most simplest of ways. I felt to share them with you in the hope that they will encourage and excite all of us as to what is possible through our small yet potentially very meaningful steps.

Conservation – small steps big impact

The first event took place on my home estate last year. For the first time, in what I think has been over 10 years, the home owners committee made the decision not to burn our critically endangered mistbelt grassland and give it a rest for 12 months. The committee would normally burn firebreaks in winter and then do a full burn of the grasslands around September.

There is lots of debate on the topic of burning and what is best for conservation and I am definitely no expert. That said, I have been fortunate to work with a number of experts in biodiversity and conservation, and specifically around the wonders of mistbelt grasslands, why they are so important and what we can do to protect and safeguard them for future generations.

In fact, in a few week’s time we will be launching a short documentary called “Into the blue”, which looks at the plight of our critically endangered blue swallows and their special grassland habitats. Until I had visited Roselands Nature Reserve and their Blue Swallows, I had no idea that mistbelt grasslands were only second to fynbos in terms of biodiversity and are way more important to our survival as humans than we may think. I will send out a separate email on this story shortly and share more about the incredible men and women behind it. The documentary also holds some first time footage (at least from what we know) which we are excited to share.

Back to our estate’s grasslands though… in a nutshell, specialist thinking and experience suggests that it is normally good to burn mistbelt grasslands every second year and not every year. This applies to grasslands where there are no big ungulates grazing them regularly and in a well-managed way, as this can extend the time until the next burn even further.

Hence, when the committee made their decision, I was excited to see what the result would be from this seemingly small change in management practice. My hope was that it would bring in different birds (and other mammal and insect species) as this seemed logical and what experts suggested; our grasslands our critically endangered and in high demand for breeding and food supply.

The results were immediate and incredibly positive. A huge thank you to all involved!

A strange call

It started with a strange yet familiar call. I was walking through the grasslands in early October when I heard a call that I had last encountered at Mbona nature reserve and on the slopes of the Sani Pass. It was unmistakable; it was the call of a Broad-tailed Warbler (or what is now called a Fan-tailed Grassbird); a bird I have never seen in our estate before. Given that I have noted 174 species to date, over the last 5 years, this was a wonderful surprise.

Within a few minutes and a repeat visit I soon discovered that we had around 4 to 5 pairs of these birds calling and buzzing around our small patch of grassland. I have never witnessed them in this way before; both in volume and in the ease at which they could be seen. I got to experience them in a very memorable way and got to learn more about their calls and behaviour. I even had the luxury of photographing and videoing one bird calling and displaying for well over ten minutes. After posting a few images online and recounting what I had just witnessed, I had birding friends wanting to know when they could come visit. These are special birds, hard to find and indeed, many birders will travel a good distance to see and photograph them.

Getting to hear their three different and distinct calls was a real highlight for me. The fact that I was able to witness this at incredibly close quarters made it even more special.

After a few more days walking amongst them and enjoying their presence, I encountered a second new bird in the form of a Yellow Widowbird. One of the home owners on the estate noted that he had not seen one in ten years.

If this was not enough, I also flushed a flufftail in the same habitat as the warblers. Although I couldn’t get a photograph and my eyes could not pick up the finer details of the bird, I am almost 99% sure it was a Striped Flufftail; another incredibly sought after bird and one I have only ever seen once before.

And all that changed was the decision to burn every second year!

Besides the birds, our grassland also supports a critically endangered chameleon called the Natal Midlands Dwarf Chameleon as well as an incredible variety of beetles, butterflies, moths and other bugs. Some of the beetles have only be observed for the first time on our estate (at least according to iNaturalist) and there is one beetle that may even be new to science. (More on this a little later).

Hope for the future

My hope is just like the businesses Graham talks about in his book that our committee will continue to take small decisions and steps that will continually bring positive benefits to our mistbelt grasslands and the people who have the privilege to experience them.

A good next step would be to get an expert in to provide a comprehensive fire management plan (as how and when you burn is important) and identify measures to curb alien vegetation such as Curry’s Post weed. So far things are looking really positive in this regard! Given that these steps continue there is a beautiful lodge nearby (Bosch Hoek Lodge) where birders can stay and have the ability to experience what I did for themselves. It was definitely a birding and conservation highlight of 2025!

How passion can make a positive difference

Another highlight of 2025 was seeing how our son Joshua’s passion for beetles has made a positive difference in the world. What started with his desire to record and identify the beetles he found, has now started to blossom into so much more.

Besides finding some fascinating beetles; such as a dung beetle that is an ant nest specialist (who knew?) and has only ever been seen five times before and never been photographed alive, his passion has started to excite adults to join in, help leading taxonomists with their classification of beetles (such as the Odontoloma genus of dung beetles) and support local nature reserves identify what beetle riches they have within their boundary walls.

Just the other day we were driving in the car and Joshua reminded me that he wants to go to Ghana to try and find Goliath Beetles. Knowing he was serious (as this is probably the 5th time we have spoken about it) I asked him if he knew what a trip like that would cost. His quick answer was “No!”, which led to a brief summary of potential costs, how capital markets work and what entrepreneurial ventures he could embark on to pay for this bucket list adventure.

Having gone over the usual car washing and lawn moving possibilities, we discussed the opportunity of him taking small groups for beetle walks near our home and showing them the wonder of these amazing insects. His idea is simple; small groups of 4 to 8 people, 2 to 3 hours in the field, beetle finding and identification (where possible) on offer, tea/coffee and light snacks provided with some beetle images shared post event and the ability to see them and their names again on his iNaturalist page. He has also roped in his dad (me) to help those interested to see some birds and identify them (even though I have expressed concern at my poor hearing and amateur status as a bird guide).

He asked if I could include his venture in my next newsletter to gauge demand before he goes into full throttle launch of his new start up. Hence, if you are interested as a family or have kids that are enamoured by beetles and bugs or just want to learn more about them, please drop Joshua a line at richard@theflacks.co.za and based on demand and diaries we will send you more details; such as cost per person and timing of the first beetle walk.

My photography mentorship intake for April, May and June is now open. Please get in touch if you would like to book your spot.

I have absolutely loved being a small part of photographer’s journeys from all over the world. It is a real privilege to help each person discover who they are as an artist, build their confidence in what they love and teach them all I know about the art and creative side of photography (which is a never ending journey of discovery for me).

Here are what a couple of my latest participants had to say:

Barry C (London, UK)

It opened my eyes to the value of art analysis

When I began the mentorship course with Richard, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was hoping to gain having taken my photography seriously for several years and developed my own ideas and style. But, being a huge fan of his work, I felt it would be a journey worth exploring. Richard helped open my eyes to the value of art analysis and how it can push photography into new, more thoughtful directions. The process encouraged me to become more aware of both what I’m doing and why I am doing it. By the end of the course, I could clearly see how much my work had grown and evolved. Beyond the creative insights, Richard is an inspiring and deeply knowledgeable mentor. His broader values and thoughtful approach resonated with me, and I’m sincerely grateful for the time, attention, and wisdom he shared.

Peter D (Western Cape, South Africa)

I have been an amateur photographer on and off for over 50 years! But after realizing that birding and photography were my two most cherished post-retirement passions, I decided that I needed to become both a better photographer and a better bird photographer.

Rich’s obvious talent for and approach to bird photography immediately attracted me to his mentorship program. I started the program with a little trepidation, thinking that I was perhaps not good enough to benefit from it. The time spend with Rich dispelled any concerns that I may have had.  His unique and insightful approach to mentorship took me back to the roots of my photography. Asking deep questions, Rich explored with me why I take photographs and where I expect photography to take me.

Rich’s deep understanding of technique, composition and analysis of what makes great images then pointed me towards approaches to photography that I had not considered before. And it also demonstrated that I could take great images if I applied myself with purpose and passion. Finally, Rich got me to really think about creativity … and drawing out my own latent creativity … this is still work in progress, but the seeds have been sown.

I feel completely differently about my photography today after the mentorship program.  I am more confident with my camera in hand that I can capture good, even great images. I am excited about the next phase of my photography journey and how I can use my images to communicate how I feel about the world around me.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the mentorship program, however, has been getting to know Rich and how he integrates his faith and purpose into his work, his photography and his coaching.  I gained so much more from these insights than I expected, for which I am forever grateful.