Eco Guides in the Garden Route

A name for DSCF 1362 after three years of hunting. I opened John Manning’s Field Guide to Fynbos and there it was, Cyphia digitata, the exquisite precisely twining little plant with pale mauve flowers that you will spot late winter to early spring near the Fynbospad that winds its way to the View Site.

This superb publication contains over 1 100 photographs of wild flowers most likely to be encountered in the Cape floral kingdom. Many thanks to Friend of Pledge Bill Edwards for donating this indispensable guide to the Reserve.

Heartfelt thanks too to Friends of Pledge, Koot and Alta Steenkamp and two friends who tackled the overgrowth on Bitou Trail with loppers. With Grace just returned from leave and our Wednesday helpers deployed to the wetland project, there is a backlog on general maintenance and hands on assistance is much appreciated. With a bit of luck these energetic young people will assist Alfredo Formosa with the annual water lily culling stint later this year.

Speaking of water lilies, it appears that we have at last got the better of the crabs . The top pond is once again full of water to the delight of the white and red water lilies and the little nymphoides. Green algal growth that developed at the silt trap has spread and donations of hundreds of tadpoles to help clear this would be very welcome. Despite the loss of water for some months, the wetland is thriving with the water grasses sending out fresh leaves above the dead ones and success with the introduction of a number of new species such as palmiet, gansgras, arrow grass and Falckia repens. On the downside, the colony of flourishing, flowering arums at the top of the top pond were found uprooted one morning. Porcupine trouble again. I would not be surprised if it’s the same fellow that was transported 20 km away to what we though was greener ‘grass’ – it would have taken him about two months to wend his way back to paradise. Anyway, I’ve capitulated as little ones come back in time. (arums) Its just a pity to lose the large flowering clumps with giant leaves and flowers. I suppose if we keep planting extra ones, supply will eventually exceed demand – provided the porcupine population remains stable. Herein lies the root of the global problem – human demand exceeding sustainable supply.

WESSA received lottery money for small projects and Pledge was one of the successful applicants. Our project is wetland rehabilitation and development. The first stint attended to the leaking pond. The second involves that horrific erosion at the top of Memory Lane following the collapse of the Municipal gabions and increased seepage from the sides resulting in slippages. Several have already occurred so our tactic is to precipitate impending slippages and catch the slide before it hits the stream bed. So far, so good and a most interesting exercise. The first bit was the easiest and a great deal of fun. Austen of the snake around the neck, stood on the bank between the crevice and the stream. As we removed the vertical supporting timbers we shouted a warning which he ignored until the earth below his feet began the descent. His face was a pic of astonishment before he scrambled away. Several cubic metres of soil slipped slowly and gracefully down and came to a stop at the retaining timber. Dead quiet was followed by a cheer all round

Pledge January 2001 Newsletter pg 2

Austen’s snake is a bit of a mystery. Chris Gow responded to our pic casting doubt on the ID as a night adder and suggesting an egg-eater or a skaapsteker. A website entry points out that the Rhombic Adder and a Rhombic Egg-eater are often confused. The egg-eaters are apparently fairly harmless and make up of for their inadequacies by making a great deal of fuss when threatened and displaying cavernous black mouths. The adders have pink mouths. Unaware of this, I did not check at the time and Austen’s snake has been eaten away. It is not quite like any of the adders. egg-eaters or skaapstekers on the internet. If we meet a live one in the future, we shall have to say: Say AAAHH please !

I contacted KPHerald about my response to Ed Hill’s misinformation. The editor said it had also been referred to the Municipality for comment. By now everyone has forgotten what the letter of 4 December was about. I pointed out that we have been waiting for an explanation for almost a year. The editor mentioned that the Municipality had intimated that they had no wish to enter a public debate. I mentioned that this was no debate. It’s a question of either coming up with a valid answer or coming clean. The Municipality now appears to have changed tack from a lengthy red-herring to slamming the door. Whatever. I have the feeling that not just the Municipality but most people would rather the whole thing just quietly slipped under the carpet. Some Trustees are meeting the Mayor and Municipal Manager at Pledge on 13 February. No doubt the annual effort to obtain a grant from the Municipality for the current financial year is a priority but perhaps it will also be an opportunity for the Municipality to relieve the pressure on them with a change of attitude to the development below Pledge.

An improvement to the walkway design would be a great help to Pledge but the shadow over the Corporate Division would remain at a time when a tough attitude to developers rather than siding with them is called for. The proposed spatial development plan aims at densification of central Knysna. There’s not much left at the bottom so all eyes are on surrounding slopes, many of which are made up of the unstable enon (sp?) soils. As I write, a developer is quietly draining a wetland between SANEL and Gardener’s Lane for another 200 units. A walk on the path below the massive gabions erected by SANEL, after the August flood landslides, and above an area cleared of wattles by the developer shows the tell tale signs, tiny cracks that get bigger and lead to seepage, the precursor of slippages.

As things look at the moment, it will be left to history to pass judgement on Knysna.

Larry Eichstadt has officially confirmed that chipping may take place but no composting ( which would have included cow dung) will be allowed near the top of the watershed near SANEL. Forget the melodrama and the packet of Eet-sum-mors, the credit goes to Fujipix. The photos of the exotics crowding the stream that runs parallel with the stream below the proposed site, probably the only pristine stream in Knysna and one not carrying faecal e-coli to the lagoon would have convinced even the most hardened cases that composting at the top of a watershed feeding the lagoon is a bad idea.

Friend of Pledge renewals in 2007 were very disappointing so we can’t afford a bash and I must now tackle the sad task of removing names from the list which had grown from 20 something to 50 something in the past three years. If you are feeling terribly bad about not supporting the most unsupported non-profit organisation in Knysna, you can rejoin this year and get my system into total confusion. On the plus side, renewals for 2009 will not be called for until mid 2009 so you will enjoy 17 months membership for R250, the cost of 12 months membership.

Paid up members are invited to a night walk to the View Site, and back, on Tuesday, 12 February starting at 8pm. Meet at the top parking at 7 .45 with good shoes (night adders), a torch, something warm to wear and something warm to drink at the top. Ina Engelbrecht has returned from Canada with severe bronchitis so we wish her a speedy recovery and hope she will join the walk and point out which star is which. (She has done this on several occasions for me but the darn things don’t stay in the same spot and I lose them) Coffee and cake will be served at the bungalow afterwards. Please let me know ASAP if you will be here for the event as I’d hate to end up with no walkers and a lot of cake to eat or lots of walkers and not enough cake to eat. The Head of Security will be accompanying us.

Regards, Jill and Rubbish

Many thanks to those of you who sent e-mails of support about the erf 431 situation. I’m afraid its not a situation I can resolve; I’m not even a rate payer. My role lies merely in bringing it to the attention of the public and Friends of Pledge in particular as it is a situation that impacts negatively on the Reserve, particularly on future development. The more serious issue that affects all ratepayers is what the Municipal files reflect - senior employees in the Corporate Division taking the law into their own hands and, for a whole year, sidestepping questions to either vindicate their actions or, if they are unable to do so, come clean.

The ball was passed to Ed Hill whose response is rejected for reasons outlined in my previous e-mail. He has now passed it back to where it should be, the court of the Municipal Corporate Division

Knysnarians can either ignore the fact that the absence of transparency in the Corporate Division and what appears to be collusion with a developer is a step towards a situation in which the Council degenerates into a group of people who meet and are paid millions of rands by the ratepayers while the real decision makers are a handful of people at the apex of an empire. Alternately, they can react to this situation by requesting the Municipal Manager, Mr Johnny Douglas, to provide an acceptable explanation for the disposal of erf 431 to a developer without public knowledge. Mr van Schalkway maintains that Municipal land does not have to be used for the purpose for which it is expropriated. No problem if there is public participation. On the other hand, to use public money to expropriate for public puposes then quietly dispose of it and not be able to account for the disposal some 10 years later, is not acceptable. In principle, you could well end up having your view of the lagoon blocked by a soccer stadium on land expropriated for a butterfly reserve!

Phrases like “…so what can you do?” and ” Its all over the country” are a cop-out, especially in a place like Knysna with its high proportion of educated and professional people. Friends of Pledge are not considered to be amongst the ostriches so please speak out. I’d like to receive your e-mails, and those of friends who believe in good, transparent governance, for forwarding to Mr Douglas.

Regards, Jill

……….. herewith my response to Ed Hill

Mr Ed Hill’s response to my letter concerning the disposal of public erf 431 is appreciated but it fails to shed light on the mystery and is misleading in certain respects.

Council did not sell erf 431 in 2001. They accepted an Offer to Purchase subject to conditions to be fulfilled in 240 days, failing which the sub-lease agreement of the erf would remain in force. Despite a time extension to 728 days until 31 December 2003, with or without Council’s consent, the offer fell through as the major shareholder of the company holding the lease was unable to cede and transfer its rights in lease and development to a Cape Town based company in November 2003. Consequently, erf 431 was not sold by December 2003 . The bank approved new shareholders and bonds on title and lease in 2004. The Municipality issued instructions to proceed with transfer in 2005. On what basis? Despite a formal request to the Municipality for documentation relating to a new agreement between the current major shareholder-developer to negate the story told by the Municipal files, none has been forthcoming and the public is still in the dark. Surely it is not possible to consolidate private land with public land held by lease for the development of privately owned residential units? Was 431 sold to the current developer or was it given to him?

The ‘back of building’ effect is no justification for support of a revised development concept by Town Planning as it was not relevant to SDP 2. The shops did not back onto Pledge but were on the walkway and presented Pledge with the opportunity of leasing one of the two shops facing onto the Reserve as a refreshment and information centre. This SDP also had residential units overlooking the Reserve as an aid to security. Mr Hill’s arguments are irrelevant and no justification for separating the Reserve from the hub of public activity by a flatland development, on erven zoned for business, in a 3rd SDP applying for a departure from the zoning scheme parameter as well as a departure from the height restriction (12 m is allowed for business, 10 for residential)

In his comment for the Mayoral Committee meeting of 20 July 2006 Mr Hill refers to SDP 2 submitted in August 2005. “The surrounding owners , including Pledge Nature Reserve, were notified of the amended SDP in September 2005 and no objections were received…. In March 2006 the consultants indicated that a new proposal would be submitted. The current proposal…was submitted in May 2006. (SDP3). The comment does not point out that neighbours were not informed of the change of concept or what the implications are for the public and Pledge Nature Reserve.

Mr Hill lists the conditions for approval of the SDP3 development, none of which have been met by the developer He also applies Pledge’s approval of SDP 2 of 18 April 2006 to the altered SDP3 submitted in May 2006. In law. an Agreement requires consensus between parties. The Municipality is happy to accept the fact that the developer will not make himself available for a round table discussion. Mr Hill’s response was the longest made to date but fails to address the core issue that is at the root of the problem, the disposal of erf 431in 2004 and the consequent stance of the Municipality and the developer whose actions and attitudes create the impression that the latter is the legal owner of erf 431, acquired with public knowledge in competition with other interested parties in Knysna ( including Pledge Nature Reserve which, as a legal entity, can purchase property) If this is the case, all the Municipality needs to do is come up with acceptable documentation. If not, the answers lie with the Municipality, their attorneys and the developer and can be found in the months between January and June 2004.

Jill Dempere

If you have never seen a skaapsteeker (initially mistaken night adder), here it is displayed by our smiling Wednesday worker, Austen. It was probably killed by a ferel cat but we made very sure before picking it up. Snakes have a tendency to ‘come back from the dead’ The markings are similar to that of the puffie but the slim head tells us it could be another kind of adder.

I’m also attaching a very interesting e-mail about hedges for garden entrepeneurs. It came after some excellent drawings form my artist friend in England. … regards, Jill

These twisted and gnarled hedges that I`m drawing at the moment are very, very old…. and the method in winter is to cut a branch halfway through so that it`s actually “hanging” on a small bit of it`s bark, then push the branch down so that to lies parallel to the ground within the hedge.

You do this to all the branches, then in Spring the hedge will produce huge masses of new growth in the cut place, as well as sending up lots of new shoots all along the length of the parallel branch.
This creates a thicker hedge as well.
But the wonderful thing about this method is that the hedge is then given a new lease on life, and instead of simply getting thinner and thinner each year from cutting it at the top, it now has an extension on it`s life…. and hedge that is “layered” (as it`s called) like this, will live for up to 300 years or more!

And another bonus to this method, is that wherever these branches that are pushed down, touch another branch, they grow together (fuse) so that you end us with incredibly beautifull or bizarre shapes within the hedge.

But you have to layer the hedge every number of years otherwise it will just bolt upwards.
In the old days when farms had a lot of labourers on the farms, there were always people working on the hedges every winter. But nowadays no one seems to bother to keep up this layering tradition, and many of the ancient hedges are dying and rotting away…. they send up tall shoots, which then becaome thick and tree-like and these catch the wind, and because the base is so old, the whole thing gets blown over and dies.

So I`m trying to capture and record some of the layered hedges around this area, in drawings.
These layered hedges were usually used as definite land boundaries 300+ years ago, and so it is possible to see the layout of ancient farms by following these hedges.
You are not allowed to remove then or cut them down, by law, but there is no law against neglect, unfortunately.

The whole of the UK is criss-crossed by thousands upon thousands of miles of ancient hedges like this, and they all tell a story about the area, and the farmsteads from yesteryear. I just love them.

Hello - five blooming poppies. Not enough to ensure their survival but a start. In the two minutes I pointed the camera at this one it was visited by a small unknown wasp, an unknown insect and an unknown fly.There is more to pollination than the bees. One of the petals, as fragile as the finest tissue paper, dropped to the ground. Later, I found the other three leading to my door, the third on the step.

The only species of African poppy has all but disappeared from Knysna. What an amazing symbol it is of our ignorance and of the fragility of the natural world. It’s also a symbol of the fragility of the institutions that hold our ideals. We bloom in prosperity with little thought of the hundreds of bloody years that accompanied the evolution of democracy and capitalism and no thought of the years to come. Democracy is not a state achieved but one that requires hard work.

Nelson Mandela was honoured when a new genus discovered in the animal world was named after him. The Mandela microcornata seaslug is found only on the Cape Peninsula coastline.

Microcornata is derived from the Latin ‘cornus’ (horn) and refers to the shape of the Peninsula. …………Porcupine Quill,

ADU (Avian Demography unit at the University of Cape Town) and SANBI (S. African National Biodiversity Institute) have teamed up again as major players in a new conservation assessment, which amongst other needs, serves as a basis for compiling red data lists in S. Africa, lesotho and Swaziland.  The Bird Atlas Project was followed by the Frog Atlas project and SARCA, the reptile assessment project. The public are invited to participate by joining field trips and creating a virtual museum open to everyone with a digital camera and access to e-mail. A close up of a night adder may not be everyone’s cup of tea but everyone loves butterflies and the latest project, the South African Butterfly Conservation Assessment, is an opportunity to join in a nation wide programme.  Some time ago I joined a photographic outing to Monkeyland and when I saw the EQUIPMENT being flashed about, disappeared into the undergrowth with my little digital-one-lens camera. Don’t despair. Of course there will be stunning pics by the boffs with EQUIPMENT but there will be other pics too. I’m submitting one of an orb spider lunching on an  Autumn Widow (You don’t have to know the names - just the difference between a butterfly and a moth which the internet will teach you). Its an interesting view of which end of the butterfly serves as a straw for the predator. My pic will contribute to the pool of butterfly knowledge.  Find the SABCA programme and links for submission details at http://sabca.adu.org.za  The programme also offers field trips to the public.  Regards, The OLD CURATOR.  PS - if you’d like to know how to go about leaving a positive footprint at a reserve in Knysna, South Africa,  foward your e-mail address to pledge@xsinet.co.za

A friend resident in England recently e-mailed a pic of a watecolour she’d done of the original English mistletoe, Viscum album. It could have been a painting of the South African species, capense. The occurrence of Yellowwood species in South Africa and Australia can be explained by Continental Drift afer the breaking up of the continents. What’s behind the occurrence behind similar species of Viscum in SA and the UK? A tantalising mystery simply inviting creative guesswork. The majority of Viscum species occur in tropical and temperate regions of the world. Of approximately 950 species, 30 occur in Madacascar and 45 in Africa of which 34 occur in southern Africa. Only 1 Viscum species occurs in Great Britain and other parts of Western Europe. 3 or more occur in the Garden Route alone.  The stats suggest that the mistletoe originated in Africa from where it spread to other parts of the world? How? Perhaps seeds were windborne and the stronger ones survived, adapted to colder conditions and evolved into a new species. The idea of human involvement is far more interesting. The Viscum has medicinal properties and perhaps it travelled with early migrations from Africa to other parts of the world. Even more tantalising is the idea that it was included in the Queen of Sheba’s shopping list. There is conclusive evidence that her envoys shopped as far down as southern Africa. ……A delicious thought from the Old Curator. Botanists are invited to submit their views.

The small yellow flower asking to be flattened on a dusty path in Pledge Nature Reserve turned out to be the Moraea belendenii,  one of  54/93 species endemic to the Western Cape. This region is probably the area of origin of Moreas. They are closely related to the well known iris but believed to have evolved independently from the Dietes, a genus exclusive to Africa.   The corms were eaten by bushmen in the days of hunter-gathering.When I searched Morae on the internet, I found a company in Japan selling bulbs and an article about Moreas, written by a South African, in the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Gardens who are thinking about making single articles available for purchase.  How about intellectual rights for plants?

They are strangely quiet this spring. Heard them in the winter months. Are they adapting to climate change or heralding the next extinction?  The last days of the Permian age saw the extinction of the large amphibians when 4 5ths of life was eliminated. What are your observations - please respond if you read this….from the Old Curator