This is a voluntary working relationship with the City of Cape Town and the Cape Bird Club since 1974.
It was very hot today I measured 36 degrees C at home this afternoon. There was a slight breeze from the SE which made it bearable. We went to inspect the area we planted 2 years ago and see what damaged had been caused the Night Heron roost area by illegal wood cutters. The Night Herons are gone as the habitat has been destroyed. The problem is there are very few heronries left in the Cape Town area with the influx of people invading their habitats.
We had a new visitor today John Lee who came to see what we do. Now to the plants we planted on the 10/07/2021, it was a total failure. Only one small camphor tree survived and a second one is alive at its base. Checking the record we planted 35 plants. Somebodies came through there and upturned all the branches we left to protect the plants, some dumped on the plantings. A reflection on what we did and need to next time. The quality of plants we were given was not good they were root bound in the bags way beyond the ideal. We need to dig the holes deeper and add compost and some bone meal to get the roots established. This is not easy area to dig there are many fine roots which have to be cut through more than a spade depth. The area is hostile weather wise extremely hot and windy in the summer months and it is exposed to the sunlight all day as it is north facing in alignment. In recent years the estuary has been kept at very saline condition as the management have been trying to get as much sea water into the estuary and over the ever increasing height of the sand bars which have formed between the 1st and 2nd bends from the estuary mouth. This possibly also is not suited to young plants trying to establish a good root system. The ground level is about 60cm above the water level at an average.
Bert went and checked the area he was working cutting down the bigger trees. This area has also been cleared as there is now an area which is totally exposed to the SE wind. It is an area the Whiskered Terns occupy in the spring and summer months.
There were very few flowering plants today as it has been a dry last 6 months and with below average rainfall for this time frame. Saw some bug egg cases on two Jackal Berry shrubs about 100 metres apart, it would be interesting to know what species they belonged too. Also saw the Jackal Berry shrub we pruned back 2 years ago is now in flower. We did see some dragonflies of different species and a few butterflies. There were not many birds flying about this afternoon. There was no water flow under the railway the estuary mouth was closed and it has not rained in the last 2 weeks. We did see a Malachite Kingfisher watching a large school of small fish which were tightly bunched together in the canal leading into the main waterbody.
We saw 20 bird species today which was very good considering the heat. The highlight being a huge flock of mixed specie swifts, martins and swallows above us for a few minutes feeding on unseen insects.
See this link for the past reports of what we have done.
photographs by Gavin Lawson.
Gavin Lawson.