Congratulations! Or is that Commiserations? You’ve recently moved to a new house, probably with 1 of 3 types of gardens – a fairly established one (lucky you!); or a lawn all around the house (sterile!); or (the worst!) a new-build with dead bricks and piles of...
BBC4thSATURDAY: JANUARY 25 - Elements influencing the character of the built environment Raymond Smith, a Betty’s Bay resident for 22 years, a Built Environment Specialist, an Accredited Heritage Practitioner and a Registered Architectural Professional, took us on an...
Many exciting things continue to happen at the branch but one of the most exciting developments in the past few weeks for me is the fact that the Sugarbird Foundation (a Non-Profit NGO whose main objective is to eradicate alien vegetation) has agreed to a Pilot...
Thirty-nine volunteers attended on an overcast and cool day to remove aliens from the verges along Porter Drive. I was informed by Dave Mourant that this was a record attendance. This hack coincidently marked the 63rd anniversary of the Battle for Betty’s Bay which...
The Kogelberg Biosphere, like much of the Western Cape, has once again been severely impacted by wildfires. This year, fires began long before the official start of the Overberg fire season on 1 December. And we’re now only halfway through the season. According to...
The peak holiday season brings a large influx of local and international visitors to the Stony Point Seabird Colony. In an attempt to help educate visitors on how to minimize stress on the...
Thanks to Pierre de Villiers of CapeNature for his very interesting and informative presentation on the MPA in Betty’s Bay. Initially, the Marine Living Resources Act 18 of 1998 was used to declare and regulate MPAs. Later this became function of the Protected Areas...
In late November, we were graced with a visit from a young male southern elephant seal. He first made his appearance on Silversands main beach. That lasted a day before he went to the Sea Farm Beach. One day there and back to Silversands. The novelty of his visit...
New Chicks on Main Beach 16 December: Exciting news! Our first two African Oystercatcher chicks have hatched on Main beach. The hatchlings are only a few days old. The same pair of Oystercatchers successfully raised one chick to fledgling last season. (The miracle...
A brief recap from the last newsletter: There was an application for South African perlemoen (in its dry form) to be reclassified to CITES Appendix 11 at the COP 30 meeting in Brazil CITES is: The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna...