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Newsletter |
January/February 2002 |
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From the Hide |
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The high water levels are
providing some great birding for those visiting the hide,
and will hopefully keep the dust at bay this season. All the
small migrant waders are still some distance from the hide,
but should be easily seen by mid February. At our latest
bird count on the 18th January, most waders were found some
distance away and included a Knot, rather unusual for
Rietvlei. During a bird club visit on the 7th January, a
male plus a female Painted Snipe were seen a mere 20 ft from
the hide, while European Bee-eaters and four Purple Herons
were sighted on the walk to the hide. We seem to be short on
Pelicans and Flamingos this year, but the Fish Eagles are
still daily regulars. I thought the following excerpt from
the Cape Bird Club's magazine of January 1953 might interest
some members: |
"During the last few days several interesting records have
come to hand…..For instance, there was a message from Mr.
Higgo, who spent the morning of 2 January 1953 at Rietvlei
with Mr. Stafford Smith. There they saw no less than 22
White Storks and 3 Black Storks and I understand that Mr.
Stafford was able to film them……Another note from Mrs. Higgo
recently arrived…… A week after their first Stork record,
she and her husband again saw 7 Black Storks and 11 White
Storks at Rietvlei."
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Evening Meeting |
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We are very pleased to
announce that one of our members, Stephan Wolfart, has just
written a book entitled 'The Natural Diversity of the Cape
Peninsula'. Stephan also took all the photographs. He has
only lived in Cape Town since 1993 and we congratulate him
on this achievement. He has agreed to give us a slide show
presentation based on his book, and copies of the book, a
glossy coffee table production, will be available for sale,
at a reduced price, at the meeting. |
Date: Thursday 21st February 2002
Time: 7.30p.m. for 8p.m.
Venue: Milnerton Aquatic Clubhouse, off Pentz Drive, Table
View
Topic: The Natural Diversity of the Cape Peninsula
Speaker: Stephan Wolfart
Enquiries: Margaret on 557-4990
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More Nostalgia |
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We were delighted to receive the following email
from Gordon Moir in Texas, recently. Gordon tells us
he has now lived in the United States for a long
time, but still visits Cape Town: |
"I am a very old "Friend of Rietvlei", probably long before
anybody else, so I would like to officially become "one". I
grew up in Pinelands and spent most of my boyhood happily
adventuring in the wonderful vleis either side of Jan Smuts
drive, unfortunately now long disappeared beneath the Tech
College and SAP sports grounds. Here I grew to know (in a
rudimentary fashion) and love SA wetland birds. On some
weekends some equally odd friends and I used to ride our
bikes (primitive 'push-bikes' as they were known then) out
to Rietvlei (we didn't have a name for it at that stage)
threading our way down dirt roads through the Port Jackson
bush and the few sparse homes in the very-distant-from-Cape
Town (at that time, 1955-60) Table View Township. What
awaited us was a paradise of wetlands, much vaster than
exists today, where we spent many happy hours wading through
the shallow waters birding and looking for
nests (not 'politically-correct' these days, but certainly
stimulated in many of us a life-long love affair with
birds!). All that existed out there then were a few derelict
block-houses (WW II vintage?), presumably erected to defend
the Cape, though we could never imagine why they were out in
the middle of the vleis (do they still exist?). I have many
happy memories of those days, though the ride home, usually
into the teeth of the south-easter, was usually very
tedious."
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New members |
We welcome the following
new members:
Vince Resente and family
Dr. Marius Coetsee and family
Yvonne Kenney and family
Dolphin Beach Body Corporate
Selwyn Musikanth
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Snippets |
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We have great plans for
the coming year but are in need of more Committee members to
help us realise these. Our website should be up and running
soon and we hope to have either a new bird hide or small
Wendy house to use as an educational/storage centre by the
end of the year. |
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Congratulations to Committee Member Frank Wygold who was
presented with an Environmental Award recently. |
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The Committee is still very involved in the Potsdam
wastewater Treatment Works expansion debate as well as the
Rietvlei Farm proposal. |
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The removal of alien vegetation at Rietvlei is proceeding
well under the guidance of member Louis Raubenheimer. Louis
has undertaken to set up a Friends of Blaauwberg
Conservation Area group and is appealing for members. This
area includes part of Blaauwberg Hill and a coastal zone and
has been in the local news recently. Please contact Louis on
554-2221. |
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