Spring Festival – Friday 24/09/2004 – A visit to the Nature Reserve
Clifford Dorse welcoming the Heritage Day enthusiasts to Zandvlei Nature Reserve.
The weather, as forecast did not put off more than 45 enthusiastic people arriving for the walk around the Reserve. Only a small shower of rain initially kept the hoods up. Clifford's infectious enthusiasm knowledge and energy for the natural environment, makes him a very popular leader.
photograph by Martin Reitz
A young Leopard toad was found along a path for all to see and
photograph.
photograph by Martin Reitz
A Spider hunting wasp (tachypompilus
ignitus) with a Baboon Spider, was seen along another pathway. The wasp had
immobilised the spider by injecting it with venom. The spider was dragged away, to have
the wasp eggs laid in it, for a food source after the young wasp hatches.
(This spring 2004 has seen numerous Baboon Spiders in and around the Nature
Reserve, not observed before)
photograph by Martin Reitz
An Angulate tortoise was
there for all to see real close up
Clifford showed us all the edible plants with berries which can be eaten by
humans, birds and animals. He pointed out all the red data plant species at Zandvlei.
He answered many questions and queries on a variety of subjects.
photograph by Martin Reitz
An unusual spring plant in flower Spinnekopblom
– Ferraira crispa.
The ZIMP (Zandvlei Inventory and Monitoring Programme) Botanists were on hand,
passing on their expertise to the interested people as well. They are working at
the Bolus Herbarium at Kirstenbosch mounting specimens and
recording all the information on a scientific structured database.
There was great excitement when a juvenile Black Sparrowhawk was seen chasing a Cape Turtle Dove. It reappeared later, landing in the nearby trees for all to see and to the consternation of many birds flying in all directions to get out of the way.
photograph by Ann Koeslag
While watching the
Sparrowhawk, some young boys firing pellet guns, were spotted
through binoculars across the vlei, and the law enforcement officers were sent to apprehend the
boys.
A debate about guns in society followed amongst the group.
A Satyrium carneum in flower.
photograph by
Martin Reitz
After the 2 hour walk we had some cool drink as the sun had come out and it was quite warm. Before going home we were treated to the Fish Eagle calling and making its way back to the nest on the mountain to feed the new chick.
A Special Thank You
To Ludine Lee Wright who organised and
planned the programme. Ludine and her family put in many hours of planning and
preparation for the event, which made the event a great success. She had the
beautiful posters produced, a CD of the 'Bird sounds at Zandvlei'. She also
produced the latest Newsletter just before the Spring Festival as well. She
organised the Muizenberg School art class to use the Leopard Toad as a theme for
their ceramics this year. Well done and
thank you.
To
all who assisted Una Hartley, Lucia Rodriques, Konstanza Gerhardt at the
functions in setting up and serving the visitors, thank
you as well.
Also a special thank you to Erika Foot
and Kareemah Jacobs (Zandvlei Nature Reserve). They are involved in a parallel Spring festival in Simons
Town as well and have been out late night game capturing and releasing in the last few
weeks, they also need to get to bed early to recover.
Also Thank You too;
- The Imperial Yacht Club once again for the venue.
- Brendan Stein of Hero Design – design and printing the of posters
- Rob Lith – use of photographs for the poster
- Sebastiaan from Imvubu (Rondevlei, Eco tourist company) – bringing the display animals
- Peter Brown for video recording the evening talks.
Celebrating Biodiversity
