This is a voluntary working relationship with the City of Cape Town and the Cape Bird Club since 1974.
We had a glorious sunny day with no clouds or wind, the air was cool though. A respite day between the rainy preceding week and what is forecast for next week.
Bert found out how much rain had come down the Keysers River when trying to get to the big Black Wattle tree he was working on last month. The water was more than knee deep on the approach to the river bank. So he abandoned that idea as he did not have his waders with him. There were a number of big Port Jacksons along the railway line which needed cutting down.
We saw a Grey Mongoose crossing the railway line with a number of bird species flying and calling in the area trying to see it off. Robin, Barry and I carried on cutting down Port Jacksons between the railway line and the Keysers River. There were some Cape Lappet Moth caterpillars on a stem of an Port Jackson Barry was working on. Robin also cut down the Black Wattle trees he had seen last month they were budding and ready to flower. The soil is very damp in the general area and small seedlings are very easy to pull out. Even small shrubs can be hand pulled easily.
We saw a large black and tan coloured spider hunting wasp buzzing about us while working. Also a small unidentified white coloured moth we disturbed when making our way through some shrubs. There were small hoof prints of a Grysbok in the sand and large paw prints of a dog along the pathways we took. Robin found a new species of pelargonium for this area with a very fragrant smell. He has only ever found this species in one other location near False Bay station.
17 bird species were seen and heard today, highlight being the Black Sparrowhawk which flew overhead along the river course and the African Fish Eagle calling from the main waterbody of Zandvlei.
See this link for the past reports of what we have done.
photographs by Gavin Lawson.
Gavin Lawson.
