Fynbos Planting – 16 June 2015

A happy gang gathered along the Rondevlei path today and planted a hundred or so plants in the recently burnt area along the northern shore. These were mostly species being added to the diversity since the alien vegetation was cleared some 30 years ago. We put plants around the new Leopard Toad breeding pond and […]

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Fynbos Planting – 16 June 2015

Just a reminder that there will be fynbos planting at Rondevlei between 9:00 – 12:00 tomorrow. Despite the weather forecast of some rain the planting is going ahead. There is a bit of rain predicted but we will be able to shelter in the adjacent bird hide if it starts to pour. Our main objective […]

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Fynbos planting – 16 June

    Hi All Where: Rondevlei main Gate When: 09:00 – 12:00 16 June The 16th June is the Western cape’s Arbour Day as it makes no sense to plant something in September when it is about to stop raining! With the recent ecological burn on the northern shore of Rondevlei we now have a […]

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Lesser Flamingos at Zeekoevlei

During this draw down there are a few Lesser Flamingos in Zeekoevlei. These birds are less common in Cape Town and the majority of flamingos that we see are Greater Flamingos. Lesser Flamingos are surface feeders, filtering small organisms from the top of the water column. Greater Flamingos on the other hand filter algae and […]

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Rondevlei Ecological Burn

The Rondevlei Ecological Burn was successfully conducted yesterday, with the reed beds along the northern shore being burnt. According to the reserve records some of these reed beds have never burnt and are over 30 years old. The burning conditions yesterday were perfect with northerly winds taking the ash and smoke out over Rondevlei and […]

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Rondevlei Ecological Burn

The Rondevlei ecological burn will be commencing at 10:00 today. The northern shore line is to be burnt on a Northerly wind; finishing at approximately 15:00. Crews will monitor during the night – rain is forecast for later. In order to facilitate this the reserve will be closed for the day.  

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First time Rondevlei dries up in 40 years!

Rondevlei has pretty much dried up in response to the summer draw down and regional drought that the 2014/15 summer has brought. The Western Cape wetlands are designed to dry up in summer and flood in winter and are characterised by this extreme fluctuation of water levels. This results in increased diversity of fauna & […]

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First frogs of the season

With this tiny bit of rain has come the first frogs calls of the winter season. Clicking Stream Frogs (Strongylopus grayii) have started to call with their “click .. click…click” calls. This is the only frog species calling at Zeekoevlei at the moment, with several individuals often calling at the same time. The call has a slightly […]

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Brant’s Climbing Mouse (Dendromus mesomelas)

This little guy below is Brant’s Climbing Mouse, one of several species of climbing mouse found in Southern Africa. As their suggests, they live in trees, restios and bushes, and are seldom seen. This particular specimen we found in a weavers nest at Zandvlei Nature Reserve. To demonstrate how cryptic this species is, consider Zandvlei […]

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Brunsvigia orientalis

The Brunsvigia orientalis  (Candelabra flower)  are starting to bloom at Rondevlei; with several plants pushing up in various stages. These plants belong to the Amaryllidacae family and produce flowers before they have any leaves which only come later when winter rains arrive. These flowers are a sure sign of the onset of autumn. This flowering […]

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