Rainfall temperatures for Oct 2018
OCTOBER 2018 2017 Rainfall mm 26.5 66 Temperature °C Max 34 24 Min 9 10read more
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Walk Report – Oct 2018
Yes, our Botsoc Kogelberg monthly walk was indeed scheduled for the third Saturday of October – the 20th to be precise. And yes, a small group of faithful walkers did arrive at the Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens at 09:00 on that day. Things were going swimmingly – except for the wind, blowing great guns. A short conference ensued and consensus reached almost immediately. ‘Rain we can manage’, noting that our walks haven’t been rained out for years, but this wind is not worth it. So we promised each other that we would get together…read more
Talk Report – Oct 2018
The Annotated Old Four Legs – The updated Story of the Coelacanth Dr Kerry Sink, 20 October 2018 South Africa is a country with an incredible marine biodiversity. Seeing the latest ecosystem map we could but wonder at the deep troughs and ridges the map shows. As a country South Africa is strategically positioned with territory in three oceans, the Indian, Atlantic and Southern. We are the only country in the world that can contribute to the protection of life in all three oceans. Near the land mass, the mixing of warm, cold, and even…read more
The Wednesday Hack
Work continued on the slopes of the Klein Hangklip mountains between Pringle Bay and Rooi Els. Rooikrans were also hacked near the Milkwood forest at the mouth of the Buffels river. During the month, 86 man-hack days were thrown at the enemy. Hackers were: Tom Dreyer, Frik Potgieter, Jan Joubert, Bernard and Natalie van Wulven, Jeannie Harning, Ulli Niemann, Tim Attwell, Carol Wilson, Claude Moine, Selwyn Botha, Mike Beglly, Louw Toerien, Chris Geldenhuys, Jane Fearnhead, Mike Robinson, Bernie Becker, Willem Stiglingh, Chris Cadman, Nils Rottcher, Giel Maree, Barbara Silcock and Gaenor Lees-Rolfe. Frik Potgieter, Convenorread more
Celebrating Women in Conservation
Helene van der Westhuyzen by CapeNature Meet Helene van der Westhuyzen, Conservation Services Manager at CapeNature. We spoke to her as part of our women in conservation series for August (Women’s Month). Nature conservation officials are the heartbeat of an entity like CapeNature and they deal with a range of responsibilities, including resolving conflict between humans and wildlife, promoting environmental awareness, implementing stewardship strategies with landowners, and ensuring that regulations relating to fauna and flora are correctly enforced. Conservation officials need to be physically fit as well as target orientated with the ability to work independently.…read more
Future Walks
17 November 2018 Meet at Harold Porter NBG at 09h00 to share transport Enquiries: Tim Attwell, cell phone 082 343 2501 This one is really relaxed, and the focus isn’t so much botanical as avian. We’ll visit the bird hide in the Rooisand Nature Reserve. Naturally there are items of botanical interest – Cape Lowland Freshwater Wetland is a distinctive vegetation type. But the idea here is to hunker down in the spacious bird hide with a pair of binoculars, a bird guidebook and a cuppa which you have brought along in a flask. The walk…read more
Upcoming Talks
Diarise these dates 17 November 2018 17h30 for 18h00 Topic: Major Changes in Botanical Art Presenter: Vicki Thomas Venue: Harold Porter National Botanical Gardens Our talk this month will be on botanical art so it seems a good opportunity to at last present our Ethel May Dixie paintings to you, our members. We will also display some of Vicki’s paintings, and others. From the moment she painted her first flower in watercolour in 1980, Vicki Thomas knew this would be a lifelong passion. Unusually, Vicki immediately started working with botanists, teaching herself botanical illustration along the…read more
Upcoming Gardeners’ Circle visit
On Monday 19 November the Gardeners’ Circle will meet at Harold Porter Gardens at 09:00 for a visit around SANBI’s HPNBG nursery. Karen Wall, the horticulturist at Harold Porter, is our hostess. Afterwards we will meet for tea and a chat at the Gardens. Meanwhile, Cornelia de Villiers has set up a Facebook page for the Gardeners’ Circle. Below is the message that she recently sent out to members: Dear Gardeners’ Circle member Please join the "Fynbos Gardeners’ Circle" Facebook group by clicking HERE. Here we can share our photos of the gardens we visit, ask questions about plants we saw…read more
A Botanical Art Feast
“Botanical artists are detail people who fall in love with the plants they paint. The close-up view gives us a great connection to the natural world…” Vicki Thomas Our Branch monthly talk for November is by Vicki Thomas, one of South Africa’s most well known and well loved botanical artists. Here, we delve a little deeper into the world of the botanical artist, and hope you find the reading as enriching as we found the researching. The difference between botanical art, botanical illustration and flower painting [View source] Put simply the differences relate to EMPHASIS: In botanical…read more
Pringle Bay Hack Report No 140
On our first Saturday hack on 27 October 2018 the hackers of the community surprised even themselves! In attendance were 38 hackers and 12 chainsaws! Really something to be proud of. During the third session on this plot next to the entrance of Pringle Bay we finally cleared the Eastern side (see photo below). Two pines were left along the fence next to the R44; they are growing too close to the telephone line, so we will engage with them at a later stage. But the rest of the area is now clear of invaders,…read more