Simons T../../own offers the best holiday accommodation in Cape T../../own, South Africa, including Self Catering, B&B's, and Hotels, Camping and Backpackers. Simon's T../../own has stunning views in the most beautiful environment of the Cape Peninsula. Nestled on False Bay within easy distance of Cape T../../own International Airport, our village is rich in history, character, atmosphere and warmth. Our neighbours are whales, penguins and seals with world heritage status bird life, fishing and the beauty of Table Mountain and Cape Point.
 
Simon's T../../own Flora Conservation Group
113 Runciman Drive, Simon’s T../../own, 7975
Telephone: +27 21 786-1620
stmuseum@mweb.co.za
Contact: Mr. Peter Salter

NEWSLETTER: 41/2010

HACKS


SATURDAY HACKS: 6/02/10 6/03/10 10/04/10*

Venue: Elsies Peak Meet at the top of Golconda Road,
Glencairn Heights 14:30-17:30

SUNDAY HACKS: 21/02/10 21/03/10 18/04/10

Venue: Redhill Meet at Pinehaven on Redhill 09:30-12:00

TUESDAY HACKS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

SPECIAL HACKS – 13/02/10 27/02/10 13/03/10
SATURDAYS: 27/03/10 10/04/10* 24/04/10

Venue: Woodlands Meet in Dido Valley Road,
opposite Woodlands 09:30-12:00

Convenor for all hacks: Peter Salter Tel: 021 786 1620

*NOTE: First Saturday of April falls within the Easter Weekend. Therefore, the hacks on 10/04/10 will be Woodland in the morning and Elsies Peak in the afternoon.

For those interested, there is a hack on Elsies Peak every Thursday afternoon. For  details contact: Iluska Allan on tel: 021 782 2736

WALKS - (RAMBLING)

NB: ALL WALKS ARE UNDERTAKEN AT OWN RISK

LAST Sunday of the month

For details phone: Claire McCarthy Tel: 021 789 1334

Day walks of approximately 5 hours
Weather permitting
Bring picnic lunch
Warm and waterproof clothing should be taken on all walks

GENERAL

Iluska Allan reports that Anton Johnson and his wife, Agneta, were out here from Sweden during December 2009 and January this year. They attended all Iluska's Elsie's Peak hacks.

On 17 January 2010, we had the pleasure of Chad Marinus' company on our Redhill hack. Chad lives at Botha's Camp on Redhill. He is a Grade 3 learner at Marine Primary in Ocean View. Joining us was entirely his own idea and he did a very good job.

The above hackers are an example to the general community in the Deep South.

CLAIRE'S WALK REPORT

The October walk in Silvermine – along Steenberg Ridge and down Prinskasteel Waterfall – was to find the dainty blue Disa, Disa maculata and the brown Satyrium bracteatum. These grew on a damp ledge, reached by much slithering and sliding down a cliff!

Other flowers flowering on the ridge were pink Gladiolus ornatus and Drosera cistiflora, blue Psoralea aculeata and striking red and yellow bushes of Penaea mucronata. In rock crevices were bright yellow Euryops pectinatus.

In November, we walked in Redhill, from Kleinplaas Dam to Vlooiberg. Disappointingly, we found no signs of Erica fairii plants. We did come across several orchids – Acrolophia lamellata and one Acrolophia bolusii. Mauve Pseudoselago spuria and Dilateris corymbosa, golden yellow Ixia dubia and Athanasia crithmifolia were also flowering.

December was an “adventure” walk for visiting grandchildren to Peers Cave. Very little was flowering in the area. Otholobium frutescens and Polygala parcinii provided splashes of purple. Prolific red pools of the Cancer Bushes (Sutherlandia frutescens) added a festive feel to the dunes.

PETER SALTER


Click Here To Read The January 07 Simon's T../../own Flora Conservation Group Newsletter
(pdf. document: click to load in your browser or mouse right click and "save target as" to d../../ownload and save to your desktop)

The Simon's T../../own Flora Conservation Group (STFCG) was established in September 1979, as a result of the vision of Hugh "Tut" Trainor, a resident of Simon's T../../own at that time.
OUR OBJECTIVES  
  • To control invasive alien vegetation in the greater Simon's T../../own area.
  • To publicise the beauty and infinite diversity of the flowering and other plants of the fynbos biome, through talks and rambles through the veld.
  • To make the general public and particularly schoolchildren, aware of the reasons for:
    + clearing alien vegetation
    + conserving and promoting indigenous fynbos
  • To oppose insensitive and inappropriate development within the Simon's T../../own area and to support like-motivated groups in other areas, wherever the need arises.
Walking in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. STFCG members on Kanonkop with a panoramic view of Buffels Bay and Cape Point in the distance.

Typical mountain fynbos in
the Simon's T../../own area.
Protea Cynaroides found on the
mountains around Simon's T../../own.
ACHIEVEMENTS
On 27 September 1985 the first Citizen of the Year Award was presented by the Simon's T../../own Municipality to Hugh "Tut" Trainor on behalf of the Simon's T../../own Flora Conservation Group.

- Hacking on Elsies Peak -a STFCG volunteer cutting d../../own a large hakea. 		In 1990 the STFCG was nominated by the Simon's T../../own Municipality for the Cape Times Centenary Award for conservation.

The Botanical Society awarded the Denys Heesom Medal to the STFCG in 1994, for alien vegetation clearance and involvement in environmental education, particularly in Ocean View and particularly with children from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.

In 1995 we encouraged two pupils from Kleinberg Primary School in Ocean View, accompanied by their teacher, to take part in an International Environmental Conference held in Eastbourne, England. Together with other organisations we were able to raise sufficient funds for Lauren Matthys and Lindsay Felix and their teacher, Ms. Fiefa Fakier, not only to attend the conference, but to spend four days in London, visiting museums and art galleries.
The above achievements are in addition to the many hectares in the Simon's T../../own area, which have been cleared of alien vegetation. In addition, the STFCG has contributed a great deal of time and energy into numerous structure plans for the Peninsula and in promoting the National Parks Board as the custodian of the Cape Peninsula Protected Natural Environment (CPPNE) - now the Cape Peninsula National Park.

Walking from Elsies Peak towards the
Brakkloof Ridge. Senecios in the
foreground and burnt remains of a
thick infestation of rooikrantz.
Aristeas and Watsonias in the vicinity
of Kleinplaas Dam on Redhill.
SO WHY DO WE DO IT?
WHY ARE WE SO PASSIONATE ABOUT OUR FYNBOS HERITAGE?

Watsonia Borbonica on mountainside
above Dido Valley. 		The Cape Floral Kingdom is situated within the Western Cape, South Africa. It consists of just under 90 000 square kilometres of which 80% is "fynbos" (literally 'fine bush'). It is made up of 8 600 plant species, 5 800 of these are endemic; in other words, they only occur in a very small and specific geographical area.

Compare this to tropical Africa which contains 30 000 plant species in an area of 20 000 000 square kilometres - that is, only 3½ times as many species in an area 235 times as large!
Watsonia Borbonica on mountainside
above Dido Valley.

Erica Cerinthoides - found all over the Simon's T../../own area. 		The Cape Floral Kingdom contains 526 of the world’s 740 Erica species, 96 of the world’s 160 Gladiolus species and 69 of the world’s 112 Protea species. It also supports about 1400 rare, endangered and vulnerable species of flora - that is more than 16% of the total number of species.

The Cape Peninsula alone contains 2285 indigenous plant species in an area of only 477 square kilometres. Just think - that is an area smaller than Greater London!

Another comparison would be that the British Isles has 1500 plant species in 310 000 square kilometres, but the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve contains approximately 1200 species of plant on 78 square kilometres, which includes 53 Restios and about 38 Ericas. Remarkable isn’t it?

Aristeas and Watsonias.
Satyrium Carneum in Redhill area.
Disa Cornuta on Brakkloof Ridge.
Gazania Krebsiana on Brakkloof Ridge.
There are 3 main plant species which make up the fynbos:
  • Proteas
  • Ericas
  • Restios

Many more plant families are represented however, such as Fabaceae, Geraniaceae, Orchidaceae, Companulaceae, Asteraceae, Iridaceae, etc.
   

Pelargonium Cucullatum on Redhill.
Mimetes Cucullatus on Elsies Peak.
Senecio.

Roella Ciliata
on Elsies Peak. 		Fire is vital in the ecology of the fynbos, but it can be both friend and foe. It is very important for the regeneration of the fynbos, but is also stimulates the rapid germination of alien vegetation seed. The alien plants have no natural enemies in this country and therefore they grow more rapidly and much larger than the fynbos plants, which soon leads to the indigenous plants being swamped.

What the fynbos needs is fairly long intervals of around 15 years (depending on the type of fynbos), between each fire. This ensures the re-establishment of the seed-set after each fire. Too-frequent fires result in the diminishing and eventual extinction of species.
A very serious threat to our fynbos heritage is "development" and the ever-advancing urban edge. A third of the geographical area of the fynbos kingdom has already been lost. A point worth mentioning is that many endemic species are extremely restricted in their geographic distribution. For example, Gladiolus Bonae-Spei is found in only 600 square metres and Erica Heleogena is found in an area of a mere ±300 square metres!
Sandstone formations on Redhill.

Sandstone with quartz.
Graafwater siltstones
in sandstone formation.
Sandstone cliff.
FAUNA OF THE FYNBOS

It is also estimated that for every plant species in the fynbos biome, there are at least 4 invertebrates and that the Peninsula itself, has 111 endemic invertebrates.

Generally fauna of the fynbos are small, due to the poor nutritive value of the plants. Examples are mongoose, porcupine, baboon, caracal, hyrax, grysbok and the few remaining mountain leopard. There are many small rodents which form the main prey of the predators.

A dolorite dyke in granite. 		Bird species too, are not very numerous, but the fynbos contains a number of endemics, such as the orange-breasted sunbird, protea canary, Cape rockjumper, etc. Several birds of prey occur in the fynbos biome, including the Cape eagle owl, black eagle, rock kestrel, etc.

Snakes including the cobra, puffadder, boomslang and numerous others are common, as are many lizard species and several types of tortoise.
Cordylus cordylus - a lizard often seen on walks in the Simon's T../../own area.
We have not listed all the species of flora and fauna of the fynbos here, but for those who would like to know more, we recommend the books:

Fynbos, South Africa's Unique Floral Kingdom
By Richard Cowling and Dave Richardson
Published by Fernwood Press, Cape T../../own, 1995

and

A Fynbos Year
Text by Michael Fraser and Illustrated by Liz McMahon
Published by David Philip, Cape T../../own and Johannesburg, 1988
   
Lichens found growing on the rock formations in the Simon's T../../own area.

Dendrites.
Liesegang Rings on sandstone boulders.
Thank you to Claire McCarthy for her wonderful photos used here...
 
 

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