Hacking Team at Zandvlei Nature Reserve – October 2021.

This is a voluntary working relationship with the City of Cape Town and the Cape Bird Club since 1974.

The weather was bright sunny and warm with a little SE breeze picking up later in the afternoon.

The water flow at Thesens bridge was 1 metre per 6 seconds. This was the same as under the railway bridge when measured there. While at the bridge we spooked a very large shoal of what looked like mullet which fled into the deeper water of the canal into the main waterbody.

A Sand Dune Opal and many Sliver Bottom Browns were the predominent butterflies seen today, there was one Painted Lady butterfly we saw on the way home. Bees were plentiful on all the plants with pollen and nectar producing flowers. Horse flies were plentiful too. There were also a variety of small beetles on the flowers.

Bert chopped down more rooikrans trees and brought some branches along for braaiwood. Robin Barry and I did a reece to see how we have done in the reed beds. There is no visible regrowth or large invasive shrubs evident. So we have done a pretty reasonable job here for the last 3 1/2 years. Came to work here in April 2018.
We found some large Sea Gwarrie shrubs with berries which I shall try and germinate. Cuttings have not worked so far.
We also found what I believe is the source of the high ecoli count in the waters of Zandvlei. The semi treated sewerage water for Steenberg and Westlake Golf Courses is leaking int the Keysers River and by appearances has been for some months. Rough calculations indicate about 1500 litres per hour is leaking from the pipe line. The Reserve Manager has been notified with photographs and will have it repaired. So there was a reason we had to come this way today.

We also found some excellent wild olive tree specimums and growing underneath is a rather special bright red iris Anomalesia cunonia.

There were Cape Shovellers and Yellow billed Ducks with chicks. A long last seen Bully Canary was photographed. 20 years ago one could always find Bully Canaries at Zandvlei some years throughout the seasons, indicating they were resident. There was a Three banded Plover along a sandy shore line where the sand banks have been dredged and reshaped with reed removal. There were 2 Purple Herons flying about in the area at the scout base buildings. A total of 33 bird species were seen.

So who says all meetings are boring? Last month at a ZPAAC (Zandvlei Protected Areas Advisory Committee) meeting I happened to look up and out of the window and there hopping about in the new nursery area was a Familiar Chat. I checked the records the last record of one at Zandvlei was in 1975.

We shall be going back to the mountain side next month.

 

See this link for the past reports of what we have done.

photographs by Gavin Lawson and Kyran Wright.

Gavin Lawson.

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