September 17, 2006

The week in review.

Last I left things we had had a wonderful afternoon at Lynn Jackson’s house and great drive around Chapman’s Peak. Then we are into a new week and a busy one it turned out to be.

Monday: Edward headed to Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town with Ishmail and Caitlin. We met a group of CREW volunteers who were there to hack the invaders. Why were we at a racecourse to remove plants? Well, Kenilworth is an active racecourse that is also the site of remnants of both acid sand plain fynbos and seasonal wetland. This makes it home to 275 indigenous plant species, many of which are specials, plants that are rare or threatened. But there are also a staggering 61+ species of aliens! And numerous individuals of many of these. Not good odds. And the location is also a geological island, a granitic outcrop in a sea of quartzitic sand. All on 45 ha in the middle of eastern Cape Town! Seems like an important site to maintain and to work to improve.

We set to work in an area that had numerous Port Jackson trees (Acacia saligna) and another woody invader, possibly a sesbania. We dug as many up by the roots as possible and cut off the largest near soil level to at least slow them down.These plants are real threats to the native plants in the fynbos and renosterveld communities. They grow quickly and flower in immense numbers so seeds are numerous and easily spread. And not surprisingly they were planted intentionally originally. Location changes but the action of humans is the same. After a few hours of this we hiked through some of the racecourse to see the flora and to allow Ishmail and Caitlin to check the status of populations of some of the specials. All in all a tiring but pleasant morning.

In the afternoon I worked on taking photos of herbarium specimens and line drawings for the ID guide for one of the upcoming field trips. I had worked on the descriptions for the trip to Saron over the weekend but what were needed were the materials for the trip to Malmesbury, which was on for Tuesday. So I worked on the photos for the most important specials and took them home with me to add the descriptions. Got that finished Monday night so that Ishmail could print it on Tuesday morning before we left.

P.S. On the way back from the racecourse Ishmail stopped at a local store and bought koeksisters for the three of us, Caitlin, me and himself. Now these were the Cape Malay version of these small sausage-shaped doughnuts, not covered in syrup but in coconut. Quite good. Yes I know what I just said, something with coconut was worth eating. When in Rome…

Tuesday: Met Ishmail early this morning so he could print out the ID guide and then we were off to the Malmesbury area. Malmesbury is northeast of Cape Town and again we are revisiting sites that have historical records of the presence of populations of these specials. We head up the hill above the town and take off through the veld. Very dry but numerous plants in bloom, some I recognize as ones I have seen before, but many are new. A surprise was finding Drosera. They are growing in rocky soils that at this time are very dry. Neat! I was also struck by the number of caterpillars we saw. And not small drab ones either.There are some plants that have dozens of caterpillars merrily munching away. In these winter rainfall areas not only must the plants spring to life when spring arrives but also everything else that depends upon them. Also found a bunch of termites at work. There was an opening into the soil and termites were coming to it from all directions. Each brought a piece of plant material, a small flower, part of a leaf, or part of a stem. At the entrance to the hole they dropped what they were carrying and other termites transferred the material to a termite in the tunnel. This termite took the material away. Great fun to watch.

After lunch looking over the town we roamed another nearby site and then headed back to Cape Town. We made one last stop, at a rest area along the highway. What this consisted of was a pull off area that had a concrete structure that could be considered a round picnic bench with seats. After walking through the dumping area, folks everywhere are inconsiderate thugs, we were in a small patch of fynbos with proteas and numerous geophytes in bloom. Not sure if Ishmail found any specials here but he at least could document the status of the site.

Then we made our way back to Cape Town. And this is what one sees from many kilometers away on a clear day. Impressive!


Almost forgot, today was a day filled with ticks. We found them on us all day long. I even found one on my hat when I took it out of my bag later this evening. Ishmail said we were not in an area that had any problems with tick-borne diseases. That was good to hear.

Wednesday: Today was the day for the trip to Saron, more east-northeast from Cape Town than yesterday. At least that was where Ishmail and I were headed. Caitlin and her crew were headed further north and west from Saron. Didn’t get quite as early a start as on Tuesday, and in addition there was considerable road work that lengthened our drive. We arrived at Saron and waited at the Municipal Building as there was a possibility someone was joining us. As it turned out that didn’t happen. So off we headed to look at what was labeled municipal land. Maybe on paper, but the local farmers had other ideas and what we found was clearly grazed. There were a few interesting plants but not many. But there were some naturally wet areas that had some different species. And there were more species of Drosera. By the time the day was done I had seen little pinwheel species and multi-branched upright species, and some had large showy flowers.


In one of the wetter areas Ishmail found specimens of Isoetes, quite a find given how small it is and how much it looks like the sedges in the area. And then he found this tiny little toad. The caterpillars continued!

Then we headed up the hillside in a stonier and drier area. Numerous species of proteas seen — Protea, Leucospermum, Mimetes at least—among other species not seen before. Interesting site but with the wind not very strong we were attacked by little gnats and nasty ants that dropped on us from the vegetation as we walked past. Interesting plants but not so much fun with the insects. One plant did get much attention and a specimen was taken to verify its identification.

From there we headed to one more location. Ishmail found the general area but the details didn’t match. He stopped at a small store/postal office to ask directions. We headed further up the side road and eventually stopped at a residence to ask again. After some discussion out came a woman who jumped in the vehicle with us to show us the site she and her neighbors had set aside as a conservation reserve. We never would have found this on our own. Over the fence we went and around the site she led us. Ishmail seemed very pleased we found this site and he took notes about a number of plants found, and a specimen or two. The bugs here were even worse than at the previous site, with something similar to a horse fly to go along with the gnats. But there were enough interesting plants to keep us occupied.

When we headed out we realized what time it was, after 4:30. There was no way we were going to make it back to Cape Town by 5. Ishmail was able to call the switchboard and get connected with Philip Ivey. He passed a message to Marcia to sit tight. We were on our way but would be a little while in getting there. Look at what the view of Table Mountain was this evening.There it was with its tablecloth in place! When we did arrive it was almost 7. A long day for her and a long day for me. We quickly packed up and headed home.

When we arrived at home Jenny was out and greeted us. She said she had just done some roasted vegetables and would bring over a plate for us. Not only did she bring over a bowl of roasted vegetables but also roasted chicken breasts and homemade meringues with whipped cream. Everything was great. What a nice thing for her to do. As I said before, we have been provided with a guardian angel!

Guess I won’t finish the week’s review tonight. I need to wrap this up and head to bed. More will be done tomorrow.

Edward