Great Southern Bioblitz et al

EVENTS offered by Hermanus Botanical Society

Preferably, participants at the events to have iNaturalist loaded on their cell phones and/or to be taking photographs for the Great Southern Bioblitz 2022 for loading to iNat for 14 days after the Bioblitz

1. Friday Morning 28 October 08H30 Walk from Rotary Way along Jeep track in Fernkloof Nature Reserve to recent area of burn near the Vogelgat border. Phone Di Marais for details and to join the walk 082 462 3624
2. Saturday Morning 29 October 10H00. Spider bioblitz in Fernkloof Nature Reserve. Meet at the Research Centre next to the Fernkloof Nursery. Phone Vic Hamilton Attwell for more details. 082 785 5145
3. Monday 31 October 09H00 Lower slopes of Babylonstoren Mountain above Ataraxia. Meet at Ataraxia at 09H00. Phone Derek for details. 083 448 3338

CREW at Work

Posted by Sandy Jenkin;

Four members of the Hermanus Botanical Society joined CREW’s (Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers) annual workshop last weekend at Grootbos.

We were divided into three groups visiting Farm 215, Hagelkraal and Heidehof.

It was a great fun day out photographing and recording our finds on iNat with the help of the plant specialists from Crew.

If you would like to join the Hermanus Crew group and help survey sites identified as plant priority areas please contact Di Marais maraisdianne@gmail.com  082 462 3624

GET INVOLVED AND HELP MONITOR SPECIES OF CONSERVATION CONCERN

A Walk on the Contour Path

roncorylus

This morning Renee and I walked the Contour Path from Fernkloof to Northcliff as Anne had told us about the beautiful Gladioli that were in flower there when she walked with the BotSoc last week. She was right and we were very pleased to find a couple of beautiful specimens of Gladiolus maculatus close to Elephant walk. There were also many magnificent Leucadendron tinctum as well as many Proteas on the western end of the path.

How sad it is that the BotSoc arranges weekly walks and the members who can walk get to see so many interesting plants, but never share them with those who are not so privileged. The Herbs blog was initiated in order to facilitate such sharing of information, but it seldom gets used. I am probably the main user, but I know very little about Fynbos and Botany compared with all of those who spend…

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The Bioblitz Challenge

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Back on the Mountain

roncorylus

Having been away for a while, it was good to get back and be able to do some walking. We kicked off with a 12,5 km hike westwards along the contour path and then back along the cliff path. Being November, we were on the look out for Orchids and were pleased to see a few Pterogodium catholicum flowering at the side of the path. We did not see any others, but the mountainside was beautiful, with so many plants flowering profusely, especially the bright, pale yellow Edmondia sesamoides.

The highlight of our walk, however, was seeing a Sentinel Rock Thrush close to the path above the Sports complex.

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Papkuilsfontein and the Surrounding Area

roncorylus

From Wuppertal we continued to the Biedouw Valley.  It was beautiful, but nothing like what it was when we visited a year ago. We were quite glad to leave and head north via the Botterkloof pass, after which we started to see more wonderful flowers. We even had a pair of Verreaux’s Eagles fly over! Our previous best bird for the trip had been a Protea Canary, a very special bird that is quite hard to find, but the proteas of the Cederberg provided ther right habitat.

We stayed in the lovely Rondekraal cottage at Papkuilsfontein. What a special and beautiful place surrounded by fields of magnificent flowers.

The bulbs at Papkuilsfontein are probably world famous and the place was abuzz with tourists visiting the special areas set aside for this spectacular show. Of course we visited other areas and were especially impressed with the route known as the Trekpad…

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Hermanus to Wuppertal

roncorylus

We left Hermanus on Wednesday and drove via Ceres up to our first stop, Mount Ceder. It was a beautiful drive with many remnants of the recent snow falls on the surrounding mountains. The rock formations in the Cederberg are especially fascinating and one is completely overwhelmed by the ruggedness of the terrain. All the streams and rivers were in full spate as a result of the snow melting and there were many Spring flowers.

Mount Ceder was very comfortable and we had a well equipped cottage, however, we would have liked to be overlooking the river, rather than the road.  There was no decent reading lamp, so we just had to sit back and enjoy too much wine in front of the fire!

On Thursday we set out for Papkuilsfontein, taking the road less traveled via Wuppertal.  This was quite an experience as the going is very slow with…

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The Postberg Trail

roncorylus

The Postberg Trail lies within the West Coast National Park and it is only open for two months of the year; the two months that coincide with the flowering period for the local Spring flowers.  We were lucky to be invited to walk the trail with Gillian and Andrew, and David and Tanja, along with a group of their friends.  In all, there were twenty of us who set out on Friday morning in crisp, clear weather – ideal walking conditions and with no cloud cover whatsoever, thereby ensuring that the flowers were open. 

Different walking speeds and more or less interest in the flowers meant that we split into groups as we meandered along, but we all met on a rocky promontory for lunch.  This was a festive occasion with excellent snacks and enough bubbly to celebrate Tanja’s birthday!

The trail with km marks. We had lunch at the…

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Dot’s Dash and the Erica pillansii

roncorylus

Our walk in the Kogelberg this morning via Dot’s Dash was pure pleasure. The weather was perfect and, as anticipated, the endemic, scarlet, Erica pillansii was in full bloom. Not since the devastating fire of 2011 has the spectacle been better! Not only was this Erica showing well, but the Erica perspicua was also looking very good.

We were privileged to have some out of town visitors with us and they really enjoyed the spectacle. It ended up being a four hour hike as we stopped many times to take photographs and also to have a well-earned tea break at Spooknek

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Chameleon Rescue Project

Mary Ann Verster supplied the following article, with photographs by Marion Zeegers;

The Whale Coast Conservation Chameleon project went into high gear in advance of the scheduled, controlled burn of a section of the wetland in the Golf Estate, to make sure that as many creatures as possible could be rescued.  Local residents came out in large numbers in response to a call from project leader, Sheraine van Wyk to survey the area over 2 to 3 evenings for the presence of the Chameleons.  Walking through dense vegetation in the dark looking for these tiny well camouflaged creatures was challenging!    GPS points were established for each chameleon located, making it easier to find them again. The evening before the go-ahead for the burn was called, a team went back into the wetland and collected 10 individuals, close to the number located during the survey.  They were relocated into 4 tents on the golf course, a temporary home for the next few days, well supplied with fish heads and vegetable matter to attract an abundance of flies keeping them well fed.  Shifts of volunteers during their temporary stay, watched over them, made sure they did not escape and kept the males separated, preventing their aggressive territorial advances on each other.  All ended happily when they were returned to the vegetation in the exclusion zone, left specially for them.  Photographs of each chameleon taken recorded their identifying markings, they were weighed and GPS points recorded for pick-up and replacement points.

Footnote by Ronnie Hazell; There were also a number of Tortoises, Geckos, Snakes and at least one rat rescued before and during the fire.