TALK REPORT: MAY 2017

- Rea Borcherds Diamonds or rock lobsters? - A presentation by Allan Heydorn: Saturday 20 May 2017 Dr Allan Heydorn held his audience captive on Saturday evening 20 May when he recounted his role in a historic expedition in 1964 to a near mythical undersea mountain to search for diamonds. Vema Seamount is an isolated flat-topped undersea mountain rising up from the deep Atlantic Ocean Basin to approximately 26 - 30m below the surface. It was discovered in 1959 by the American research vessel ‘Vema’ and lies approximately 550 nautical miles west of Lambert's Bay.…
read more

WALK REPORT:
SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2017

The path up Bobbejaanskop in the Harold Porter National Botanical Garden, sometimes called ‘the zig-zag path’, is often mentioned with a fearful quaver in the voice, induced by the prospect of a relentlessly steepening gradient and increasing exposure to height. But the dozen or so members and guests who tackled it showed that it’s eminently do-able if you take it slow, check out the flowers instead of the height and stop at the top bench for tea and self-congratulation. The view from the bench isn’t half bad either. The object of these heroics was Nivenia…
read more

HAARWEGSKLOOF

-Merrilee BerrisfordThe visit to Agulhas National Park came to an end, ten of the group of seventeen now met at Cameron McMaster’s house for a visit with him to the Napier Renosterveld Reserve. And then there were five, five keen types who had the time to go on to Haarwegskloof for two more nights. But first, Cameron had yet another delight - a visit to Fairfield to see that great treasure, Moraea elegans, in its two colour forms, yellow with either green or orange growing only on that slope and one across the road. Another…
read more

WHO REALLY BENEFITS FROM FEEDING GARDEN BIRDS?

Charles and Julia Botha Charles and Julia Botha are the authors of Bring Nature Back to your Garden and Bring Butterflies Back to your Garden. Both their books have won book prizes from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. With their kind permission, we reproduce an article written and adapted by them for Environment from one by the same authors entitled Food for thought; who benefits from feeding birds? Africa Birds & Birding, 2009, 14 (3) 36-41. The article appears in our Newsletter in three parts. Here is the second. Of all the horrors placed in gardens…
read more

SPRING EXPEDITION TO SEE RENOSTERVELD AND AGULHAS PLAIN LIMESTONE VEGETATION

Merrilee Berrisford Barbara Jenman, Andrea Benn and Merrilee and Peter Berrisford recently returned from a successful recce in preparation for the planned trip to the area beyond Bredasdorp, to wander through Renosterveld at the Haarwegskloof Renosterveld Reserve and also the limestone vegetation of the Agulhas Plain. The recce crew had good conversations with Emmarentia de Kock, the People and Conservation Officer at Agulhas National Park, and Jannie Groenewald of the Haarwegskloof Renosterveld Reserve. The group enjoyed a day out with Emmarentia in the limestone fynbos and the renosterveld of the National Park. Haarwegskloof near Napier…
read more

TALKS PLANNED FOR 2016

Saturday 16 April: Eugene Marinus, Curator of the Hantam National Botanical Garden, will speak about the Hantam Garden. At 18h00 – Nivenia Hall, HPBG. Saturday 21 May: Dr. Ernst van Jaarsveld, horticulturist and curator of the Kirstenbosch Conservatory. At 18h00 – Nivenia Hall, HPBG.
read more

TALKS PLANNED FOR 2016

Saturday 19 March: Keir Lynch of the Overberg Lowlands Conservation Trust will speak on ‘Watercourse Restoration: Its role in landscape conservation in the critically endangered Rûens Wheatbelt’. Keir is Project Manager on the Water Restoration Project of the Overberg Lowland Conservation Trust; he has worked at CapeNature and also in wildlife management at various private game reserves.  At 18h00 – Pringle Bay Community Hall. Saturday 16 April: Eugene Marinus, Curator of the Hantam National Botanical Garden, will speak about the Hantam Garden. At 18h00 – Nivenia Hall, HPBG.
read more

PRINGLE BAY HACK N0 111

Chris Geldenhuys, Convenor Although it might look like a cricket ‘Nelson’, the 111th Pringle Bay hack was very successful. On 28 February 2016 the Pringle Bay Hack Group assembled and performed a productive hack in Diagonal and Peak Roads of Pringle Bay. The major challenge was the Rooikrantz bushes, but even more so the ever-present Australian Myrtle. (See the before and after photos below.) Despite the wind, the attendance was overwhelmingly good with a total of 21 members! In an effort to counter the heat of the previous hack, Mike brought along a jerrycan to…
read more

YOUR ARTICLES AND CONTRIBUTIONS ARE WELCOME

The editor reserves the right to edit contributions. Deadline for the next newsletter is Tuesday 19 April 2016. (Please note the new Newsletter schedule – we need articles in the third week of each month for the following month’s newsletter.) Please address all mail to: Kogelberg Branch of the Botanical Society, PO Box 85, Betty’s Bay 7141 E-mail: peterb5424@gmail.com Editor’s  e-mail:  b.attwell@mweb.co.za
read more