We send GREETINGS to all
our friends and members, and apologies for the long time
since the last newsletter. Thanks to a computer crash and
loss of e-mail addresses and other information, changes of
speakers and walks, this newsletter, which started as the
August newsletter, has now become the October newsletter.
YOU MAY BE GETTING THIS NEWSLETTER BY POST THIS MONTH AS
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HAS GONE MISSING. SO PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL
BACK TO US SO THAT YOU GET BACK ON THE EMAIL LIST. EMAILS
SAVE US A HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY IN POSTAGE & PAPER.
|
|
FRIENDS OF RIETVLEI
WEBSITE |
Our new website is up and
running and is very impressive. Thanks go to Niel van Wyk
for all the work that has gone into this project. PLEASE
NOTE: Our new web address is www.friendsofrietvlei.co.za and
if you wish to contact Friends of Rietvlei our new e-mail
address is
info@friendsofrietvlei.co.za. Please change your records
to the new details. Have a look at the site and if you would
like to contribute some photos or information you can
contact Niel Van Wyk on
niel@bluecape.co.za. We would greatly appreciate all
contributions to the website to make it interesting and
informative.
|
|
ACTIVITIES |
|
Our next walk in the
Rietvlei Wetland Reserve and to the bird hide will be on
Sunday 5 November. The Education Centre will be open from
14h30 and the walk will begin at 15h00. Please join us for
the walk and then a cup of tea/coffee afterwards. Bring
binoculars if you have, & your teatime snacks to share. |
Our year-end function is planned for 16 November and will
include the Students’ final reports. Those of you who were
at our last Evening Talk which was held in June will
remember that it was given by the students who are working
at Rietvlei this year, informing us of their projects for
2006. Tracy’s project concerns the brush burning that
happens at Rietvlei, to dispose of the remains of brush from
the alien vegetation clearing, and investigates the optimal
size of the pile to be burnt. Arno’s project has to do with
the re-introduction of prawns into the lagoon and Chantel’s
project researches the quality of the water feeding into the
channel at Theo Marais Park. It will be a "bring-and–share"
evening, so if you could bring a plate of snacks that would
be good. We will supply some wine, fruit juice, tea and
coffee. We plan to start at 8pm, so if you could arrive at
7:30 for some social time first, that would be great. As
usual we will be meeting at the Rietvlei Education Centre,
adjacent to Milnerton Aquatic Club, off Sandpiper Rd,
Flamingo Vlei.
|
|
FRIENDS
GET-TOGETHER |
WESSA, with whom Friends
of Rietvlei is affiliated, is holding a year-end Friends
get-together, hosted by Friends of Tygerberg on Saturday 18
November at 10:00. Phone Pauline (021 557 6920 a/h or 021 464 4748
o/h) or Pat (021 557 3748) for more details.
|
|
DIEP RIVER |
Clearing of alien
vegetation has happened in the Diep River area, east of Gie
Rd, west of the Diep River and the railway line. The
stockpiled brush material was burned by the Rietvlei
conservation staff, under conditions of a permit for
burning. This was all completed by 30 September. Once the
area was cleared of Port Jackson lots of rubble and litter
was exposed as well as a myriad of tracks, created by motor
bikes, quad bikes and 4x4’s. It is hoped that the area
between Gie Rd and the railway line will become part of the
extension of the Rietvlei Wetland Reserve. This area is to
be fenced soon. The biggest threats to this area at present
are possible low cost housing, off-road vehicles, hunting
with packs of dogs and dumping of rubble. For those of you
who live in the area or have friends living there please
keep your eyes and ears open to these threats and pass any
information you have on to the committee by email. We are
planning a walk in the area next year so that members can
see what is happening.
|
|
RAINFALL |
A fair amount of rain
fell during winter and now it seems as though winter is
officially over. The thumping south-easter wind now does its
best to dry up the area. The rainfall figures at Rietvlei
for the winter were: May 104mm, June 25.5mm, July 64.2 mm,
August 45mm, September 12mm. October wont add much to the
total! Spring has come with its renewed growth and glorious
flower displays. Not to mention the longer days and not
having to drive to work in pitch darkness!
|
|
WATER QUALITY |
Those of you who drive
down Koeberg Road towards Milnerton will have seen the
changes at the old Kynoch fertiliser factory site. All the
old buildings have been demolished and cleared away. The
Duikersvlei stream has been diverted around the southern and
western edges of the site. The good news is that nitrate
levels that were in the stream water have dropped
significantly and that means that Rietvlei isn’t getting
fertilised!
|
|
WATER HYACINTH |
We are greatly concerned
that the City of Cape Town has not found any money in this
financial year to keep water hyacinth growth at bay. For the
past 5–6 years there have been successful manual removal
programmes run by the City that kept the river and vlei
largely clear of this rapidly growing invasive plant. Some
years ago the build up of water hyacinth nearly led to the
historic wooden bridge over the Milnerton Lagoon being
washed away by the weight of water hyacinth pushing against
it. The water surface of large parts of the Milnerton Lagoon
and Diep River, near Blaauwberg Road Bridge, disappeared
under water hyacinth. Is that what we can expect again??
|
|
CONSERVATION OFFICE |
Koos Retief, Reserve
Manager for Rietvlei, is busy planning the building of a
conservation office at Rietvlei. This will be built near the
entrance gate and the Milnerton Aquatic Club leased area.
Capital money is available from the City for this project
and it need to be built by June 2007.
|
|
EDUCATION CENTRE |
This spring term is
generally a good one for school visits. Table View Primary
School sent all their Grade 3 classes, and the visits took
place over the course of a week. The Sea Cubs also came for
a visit to do some work on the alien rooikrans seedlings
popping up. They also planted 150 small plants to celebrate
Arbour Week. Thanks go to Chantel (student 2006) for adding
decorative curtains to the bookshelves to protect the
contents from dust. This is a great contribution!! The new
fridge/freezer has been purchased and put in the Education
Centre. Caltex provided funding for this purchase and John
Herring did the negotiations for the purchase at best price!
|
|
MEMBERSHIP CARDS |
If you wish to have a
membership card for access to Rietvlei, please email Barbara
at
barban@sfc.wcape.school.za, including your name, ID
number and address.
|
|
MEMBERSHIP DRIVE |
|
We had a successful
membership drive on Sunday 4 June at Table View Mall outside
Pick ‘n Pay. This resulted in some new members joining as
well as some renewals. Thanks to all who manned the tables
on the morning as well as to those members who popped in to
support us. A membership form is available on the website so
please keep encouraging people to join! [Click
here to open membership form] |
 |
| This newsletter comes to you with the kind
assistance of Caltex. |
