What does this say to us, the members of the Cape Bird Club? We are told that birding is the “fastest growing leisure activity in South Africa”(3) and we are also informed that it “is the second most popular hobby in the world next to fishing”(4). At a recent BLSA strategy work-shop that I attended in Gauteng, it was noted that over 200 000 birding field-guides have been sold in South Africa over the last few years.

Where are all these avid avian enthusiasts? Is our club about to be swamped by a new breed of bird-watcher, with designer mud splashed all over their new Swarowski’s? Are our precious IBA’s going to become playgrounds for a multitude of the mink and manure set?

Well, I certainly hope not! I have come to appreciate over the years that a bird club such as ours, has a unique and complex set of nuances that define it. Our bird club in particular, is not simply a gathering of environmentally astute, notebook-wielding odd-bods, with a bird-friendly bent. It is in fact a rather, special “place” where we share a common interest, where we learn from each other, where we act as a nursery for the development and expansion of this wonderful past-time and where we are actively involved in the conservation of birds and their habitats.

Our club’s numbers have remained around the 1000 member- mark (1030 members as of 04/03/2008) for quite a few years now and I hope that they will stay that way for quite a time to come. However, not every bird-watcher wants to be part of a bird club. This is a fact that we must accept and embrace. How would we service a huge group anyway? Can you imagine going on an outing with 200 birders. I couldn’t think of anything worse? Mass twitching events aside, we must not lose the personal connection and intimate nature of our club’s activities.

This does not mean that we must discourage many new members from joining. I hope that one day, when we feel we have reached our threshold, we will act as the “mother club “to many satellite clubs in the South Western Cape and perhaps even on the Peninsula itself!

BLSA is in the process of re-positioning itself as a leading conservation NGO in this country. Vodacom has kindly offered substantial funding for a new marketing analysis and advertising campaign that if successful, will see our society grow significantly. If our membership were to expand from its present 8000, into a society of over 100 000, we will have to seriously address what it means to be in a “club”.

The “clubs” or “branches” of the society are indeed its backbone. They make up the active core of its members, who are directly involved on the ground, in a plethora of birding-related pursuits. But we will have to accept that we will possibly soon belong to an organization, that as a collective, might not share our historical, traditional and familial approach to bird watching. This is nevertheless a critical and necessary evolution, if we as a society are to use our numbers to successfully lobby government and other institutions for the protection of the environment.

Dave Whitelaw, who has chaired our Conservation Committee for over 20years, will tell you that for the first time in our history, BLSA is actively embarking on legal action against a large mining corporation, in the defense of the critically threatened grassland biome. This is a multi-million rand litigation and sees the major conservation NGO’s joining forces for a common cause.

We must be proud of our society, as it becomes more professional, more scientific and more business-like, but we must not lose sight of the true essence of the Cape Bird Club. We must safeguard the integrity of the “club way of life ‘, it must always have its influential place within in our growing and changing organization.

As we look back on another, very busy year we can report that the Western Cape Birding Forum (WCBF) has been hard at work. We once again thank Sylvia Ledgard, our Honorary Secretary for keeping the Forum members on a tight reign and we also thank our Honorary Treasurer Brian Dennis.

At present we have registered as an Interested and Affected Party (I&AP), for more than 19 Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA’S) across our region and I would like to single out and thank Keith Harrison in particular, for his diligence and dedication in this regard. The Western Cape, despite the ESKOM fiasco, is under tremendous development pressure and I can assure you that the WCBF is watching it all very carefully.

We congratulate Anton Odendaal for the launch of the new Flamingo Birding Route along the West Coast and we look forward to the establishment of further routes in the coming year.

We also congratulate the ADU, BLSA and SANBI on the launch of SABAP2. This is a bold and essential project that will not only provide us bird-watchers with great fun, but will also deliver important information on our birds, while assisting us in understanding the significant impact of global warming on our environment. I was very kindly invited to be Master of Ceremonies at the very grand and impressive launch held at Kirstenbosch, earlier this year and I would like to wish Prof. Les Underhill, Dr Pheobe Barnard, Doug Harebottle, Neil Smith and their team great success, as the project gains momentum and we assure them of our full support. In particular, we commend John Carter for accepting the atlassing challenge so enthusiastically, proving to be one of our most passionate “citizen scientists”. He has set a fine example for the rest of us to follow.

Last year saw the Forum tackle the issue of “education of the youth”, where we had a special workshop and shared many ideas. Our environmental education approach embraces the SASOL/BLSA National Bird Week programme. The theme was the “African Penguin”. This was the third year a National Bird Week has been organized and we thank the indomitable Heather Howell for her excellent traveling road show and power-point lecture. We also thank Helen Fenwick, Penny Dichmont, Frank Wygold, Priscilla Beaton and Anne Gray for their skill and dedication in making this such a successful initiative.

The Cape Bird Club is constantly trying to come up with fresh ideas for its members. Whether it be new venues for outings, new destinations for camps, innovative, new course topics or exciting, new speakers at evening meetings. All of this takes a lot of careful planning and creativity.

We therefore thank Mel Tripp and Peter Cooper for organizing the wonderful camps to Karoo National Park, De Hoop Nature Reserve and Nature’s Valley. In addition, Peter develops our outings-programme for the year, for which we are very grateful. We also thank Heather Howell for a year filled with informative and stimulating evening meetings and the Courses Committee, of Sylvia Ledgard, Brenda Anderson, Gill Ford, Judith Crosswell and Mel Tripp for all their flair and commitment.

Promerops continues to set the benchmark, when it comes to club magazines in this country. I am regularly complimented by the other branches of BLSA, on the high quality of our publication and once again we sincerely thank our talented editors, Otto Schmidt and Jo Hobbs.

We also thank our Honorary President Peter Steyn for his continued support and we congratulate him on the publication of “Antarctic Impressions”, yet another book to add to his large portfolio of photographic and literary excellence.

Congratulations are also in order to Anne Gray and Frank Wygold on their Eagle Awards. They are the first members of the Cape Bird Club to be recognised by BLSA in this manner and we are tremendously grateful to both of them for their contributions to our club.

We must not forget: our membership secretary Joan Ackroyd; our Rarities Chairman Mike Buckham; our scientific advisor Callan Cohen; our web-master Gavin Lawson; our book sellers Anne and Gavin Greig and of course Des and Mary Frylinck, who run our shop. They all work very hard and provide us with the special extra services that make this club unique. We thank them very much.

Jan Hofmeyr and Ken Price quietly manage our slide and book libraries and our many silent loyal, helpers work behind the scenes preparing teas and assisting on outings and camps, we thank you all very much too.

Of course, I must say a very special and personal thank you to my Committee. Helen Fenwick, Anne Gray, Dave Whitelaw, Peter Brunwin, John Treasure, John Magner and our vice-chairperson, Heather Howell have all worked very hard to make this club the most successful bird club in the country. At every BLSA Council meeting the Cape Bird Club is constantly singled out as the model on which all the clubs should be based. We can be very proud of our committee.

Reports, by their very nature are retrospective. Nevertheless I think it is appropriate for us to look to the future. 2008 is a big year for the Cape Bird Club. It is after all our Diamond Anniversary. We are only the second club to have reached our 60th Birthday milestone and we take this opportunity to congratulate Wits Bird Club on turning sixty last year.

I am sure you are all aware of the exciting, innovative calendar of events that lie ahead for the year. For this we have to thank the Anniversary sub-committee of Otto Schmidt, Klaus Hoffman, Jo Hobbs and Chairman Mel Tripp. They worked tirelessly throughout 2007, planning our celebrations with meticulous precision.

I have left one special thank you for last. On behalf of all of us, I would like to single out and thank Mel Tripp. Mel joined the Cape Bird Club in 1988. He has served on the Main Committee for a number of years, many of which saw him assuming the responsibility of vice-chairman. He has also chaired many sub-committees and he was instrumental in organizing the BLSA 2002 AGM at Blouwaterbaai in Saldhana Bay, which to date is regarded as the most successful AGM event in the history of the Society. He was also the driving force behind the organization of our outstanding 50th birthday celebrations in 1998.

Apart from being an exceptional bird watcher, Mel has shared his knowledge with the club by authoring the CBC publication “ Birds of the S.W. Cape and where to watch them.“, which finds pride of place on virtually every birders book-shelf today. And last year saw him add the C.D. “Bird Calls of the S.W.Cape”, to our birding arsenal, as well!

He is tremendously unselfish with his time in the field and he has led countless outings and camps over the years. He also manages to find time somehow, in his busy work schedule, to design and produce all the promotional artwork and advertising that we have benefited from over the past 20 years.

Mel, thank you for your dedication to the Club and for your continued support and passion for birding. We are very fortunate indeed to have you as part of our family. It therefore gives me great pleasure to propose Mel Tripp for honorary life membership of the Cape Bird Club.

Could I have a seconder please?

This brings me to the end of my report. Thank you all for your support.

VERNON HEAD.

Ref: (1,2,3&4). Maverick,Vol 2, Issue 12, 4/08/2007-article by Mr John Maytham.