The Cape Bird Club

MINUTES OF THE CAPE BIRD CLUB CONSERVATION COMMITTEE

Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 17 January 2011 at Dave’s house.

Present: Dave Whitelaw, Felicity Ellmore, Frank Wygold, Gavin Lawson, Stacy-Ann Michaels.
Apologies: Cliff Dorse, Suretha Dorse, Doug Harebottle.

1. Strandfontein - Vernon got back from holiday last week. Dave will meet with him soon.

  • Jenny Day has a PhD student to look at the effects of dropping water levels. Dave will see her in the next week or two.
  • Not heard anything from Victoria Day, as far as Dave knows from Asief and Cliff things are still on track.

2. Paarden Eiland - Frank still hasn’t heard anything from the hospital about his lease.

  • The people at Intaka Island haven’t got back to Frank.
  • Maizels Cottage - they have been stealing galvanised roof sheeting, flooring, windows etc. Bernadette le Roux has R160 000 to restore the cottage but the Friends of Paarden Eiland don’t want to do it because they say it isn’t enough.
  • Bulrushes - the only spray that works is not available any more. The problem with the bulrushes started when Blue Continent moved there (1993). The refrigeration process produces ammonia.
  • There have been lots of fires and sewage leaks. A sewage leak started on 24 Dec and they only repaired it on 10 Jan.
  • The Friends of Paarden Eiland have produced a newsletter - Vlei Times.
  • Paths - waiting for R7000 from Bernadette le Roux. Communicare reacted to Frank’s article in the newspaper. They have started repairing their damage.

3. Raapenberg - Dave has been trying to contact Maya. Need to get a management plan going. Dave will try and get to the next TRUP meeting.

4. Flaminkvlei - Visit to Flaminkvlei - meet at Dave’s house at 7h30 on Sat 22 Jan - Go up to Flaminkvlei, look at area to get ideas about what should be done with area. Then have lunch afterwards at Velddrif.

5. Edith Stephens - There was a successful Toyota Birding Big Day at Edith Stephens last year - went to Phillippi and Rondevlei. Plan for the year.

  • 12 March - West Coast field Study Centre
  • June - Zandvlei
  • September - Ringing at Edith Stephens
  • November - Birding Big Day

CBC members donated books - Stacy will send Gavin the names for the web.

6. Wind farms - Dave attended the meeting on the Fri 19 Nov 2010.

  •  Tony Williams had permission to use radar over a weekend. Dave will contact Keith and Tony to find out what they learnt.
  •  Janet McFarlane spoke to Frank at the last CBC meeting - she has a friend whose neighbour installed a wind turbine. The friend found dead birds in her swimming pool. Felicity will contact her.

7. Alien Species - Gavin will contact Louis Stafford about the mallards.

NEXT MEETING - Monday 21 Feb 2011 at Dave’s house.

                                                                                                                                            

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