Talk Report – Feb, Mar & Apr 2019

“FROGS” Andrew Turner, 16 February 2019 Are you a frogger?  After Andrew Turner’s most interesting and informative talk we will be using our ears rather than binoculars as we walk around Betty’s Bay’s wetlands. Particularly in the evenings, tune your ears to the sounds of an African night. Frogging can be a science or a recreation as we make exciting discoveries of these little creatures. Frogs are classed as Vertebrate amphibians with two phases to their lives: the tadpole, and the four legged adult (amphi = two, bians = life). Toads are frogs, frogs are not…
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Talk Report – Nov & Dec 2018

Botanical art around the world: Looking for the perfect curve Vicki Thomas, 17 November 2018 Living as we do in the heartland of the nation’s floral kingdom, the prospect of hearing a talk by renowned and local botanical artist, Vicki Thomas, attracted a large audience on Saturday 17 November 2018 to the Nivenia Hall, Harold Porter Gardens. Fusing her artistic expertise with her love for teaching, Vicki traced for us the early origins and functions of botanical illustration and how it metamorphosed into the recognised and sought-after art form of today. Botanical art has its origins…
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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…
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Talk Report – July 2018

1. Sky Islands: An illustrated talk - By David Gwynne-Evans (19 May 2018) When first hearing of the title of David’s talk one might imagine planets or constellations, but no, this talk was about Mountain Peaks that emerge through the clouds forming islands in the sky. A beautiful example is Tretchikoff’s  painting, “Valley of a Thousand Hills”, depicting mountain peaks peeking through the cloud mass. David, who admitted to a fear of heights, has climbed into the island archipelagos  of Kenya, Tanzania, the Drakensberg, the Canary and Cape Verde islands. He has plans to visit…
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TALK REPORT FOR JANUARY 2017

-Andrea Benn 21 January 2017: Cuan McGeorge on “The adaptability of an endangered species  -  the African penguin”. Stony Point is the site of the only growing colony of African penguins on the South African coast. African penguins may be little smelly and noisy for some of their human neighbours, but they arrived in Betty's Bay and formed the first mainland colony in 1982, some three years before the colony at Boulders Beach in Simonstown began. When we built our cottage at Betty's Bay in the early nineties, we would often take visitors from Europe…
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