This is a voluntary working relationship with the City of Cape Town and the Cape Bird Club since 1974.
The air temperature was warm with a westerly wind blowing and partly cloudy sky. Back to the trees beside the Keysers River again. Robin went in search of a pelargonium to see if it was flowering. It had buds so maybe next month it will flower. Bert and I started on the remaining part of the copsed Brazilian Pepper tree and managed to get all the large branches onto the bank. There was a double nest which was being used as a practise site. We all continued further north cutting smaller copsed pepper tress. Also a large Pampas Grass shrub which needs to be cut back to the stump and then have herbicide applied to prevent it growing again. This species is very difficult to contain in a wetland area once established and flowering, as the seed is wind and water dispersed and can grow in very inaccessible places.
The general vegetation is thriving after the excellent winter rains and the hot sunny October and November so far, few plants were flowering. The birds were very scarce today. We saw a single Painted Lady butterfly sunning itself in some low vegetation.
Maybe the bush birds have fledged their offspring and have dispersed. A total of 12 species were seen. The Cape Cormorant the highlight as it was returning along the Keysers water course from the section above Military Road in Retreat area, which was cleared of 15 years of reed growth by Catchment Management during the floods this past winter. The nearby factories and hospital were nearly flooded.
See this link for the past reports of what we have done.
photographs by Gavin Lawson.
Gavin Lawson.
