What happened at Dunefields?
What a wonderful new addition to the Buettners’ house. The extended deck leads to the newly built braai and jacuzzi which makes for a lovely outdoors relaxation and entertainment area.
In a matter of six days we rescued four Cape cormorants, one of which was entangled in fishing line with a fishing hook that was embedded in the flesh of the bird, while a sinker was dragging along as well. When we received the call-out, we hired a canoe to reach this bird that was swimming in the Touws River. Once we got to our stabilization station we removed all the fishing gear embedded in the bird’s wing, and provided the necessary care before it was sent to a rehabilitation centre where it is currently doing very well
To raise awareness for the help we can offer by rescuing and temporarily caring for animals in need, two local newspapers featured the Dunefields’ stabilization station in an edition this month.
Tiaan was invited as a speaker at the Conservation at Work Symposium in Robertson. He had the opportunity to showcase what conservation actions we are undertaking at Dunefields. We were happy to have been given the opportunity to raise awareness on the value of nature reserves along the coast, and the need to protect these vulnerable coastal ecosystems.
Zanri presented Dunefields’ gannet research and animal rescues at the Nature’s Valley Trust. The presentation educated on the ecological importance of the endangered Cape gannet. After the presentation, Zanri was quite touched by a heartfelt comment from someone in the audience saying: “I used to only see a gannet, but now my eyes have been opened.”
Camera traps are wonderful tools in nature conservation. It is a non-invasive way of gaining insight into animal behaviour, habitat occupation, and population structures to name a few. We are always delighted to see caracal both on our camera traps and in person.
We are continually collecting caracal scat with the aim to analyse the scat across different seasons. With Dunefields being located on the highest vegetated fossilized dune in South Africa, we are interested to determine what the caracals feed on along our coast. We are mindful of the scat being territorial markers hence we only collect 50% of the scat
The Humpback and Southern right whales are on their annual migratory journey passing by Dunefields. Mothers and calves often come close to the shore, as an anti-predation strategy, where the sound of the crashing waves can somewhat mask the sound of the mother vocally communicating to its calf. This reduces the probability of orcas hearing their communication, reducing the likelihood of the orca (the predator) locating the prey (the whales).
One of Tiaan’s supervisors from his PhD, a great botanist Dr Adriaan Grobler came to visit us on the reserve where we explored the diversity of plants. Here he is showing Zanri some of the smaller fynbos flowers that grows close to the ground. He also pointed out a rare Erica species of which we provide more detail later in the report.
We have been busy with follow-up clearing, which is the removal of seedlings and young trees of invasive alien plants such as Rooikrans (Acacia cyclops). Hand pulling is the safest method as the use of herbicides can result in the killing of the surrounding indigenous vegetation and can also enter the soil through the plants which can negatively affect soil health.
Team members from the Fire Protection Association and Working on Fire assisted in the removal of dead branches that are scattered along Paradise Trail. By removing the wood, it allows for plants to establish in these now open areas promoting plant diversity. It also removes the easily combustible dry fuel loads that can pose a fire risk.
Our guys on the ground have been working on various projects such as maintaining our hiking trails and roads. Here they are collecting wood chips on the reserve to fill up the bumps and holes in our sandy roads. This will help to make the drive on the roads smoother, and provide more traction for vehicles without 4×4.
A new member to the Dunefields fleet is our staff vehicle which allows ease of transportation for our workers to come to-and-from work every day. This makes their life much easier, and they are happy with the new wheels.
We present our stabilization station, a designated facility where we can stabilize seabirds, sea turtles and other animals that we rescue. We are trained First Responders, and work under permit to rescue and stabilize seabirds in need before sending them off to rehabilitation.
Who calls Dunefields Home?
The Speckled mousebird is one of three mousebird species in South Africa, and also the largest of them all. They have large feet, and all four of their toes are capable of pointing forward which allows them to hang on branches instead of perching like most birds do. They like to point their bellies towards the sun which allows their metabolism to work faster. They are frugivores but have been seen to eat flowers, seeds and leaves.
Cape cormorants face a suite of threats (many of which are human induced) both at sea and on land, owing to their classification as endangered. This month we were amazed to have observed as many as 300 Cape cormorants in a single marine survey. They were actively feeding close to shore, and sometimes feeding in conjunction with gannets and Bottlenose dolphins.
This looks like the animal was taking a selfie. Can you guess what animal triggered the camera trap? Find the answer at the end of this monthly report.
Fynbos is extremely species-rich. This Phylica dodii flower is less than three centimetres in size but (if you use your imagination) it somewhat looks like a large protea-type flower. This is quite a coincidence that it happens to be growing along one of our roads called Protea Way.
We have had a lovely array of flowers opening as our seasons are changing to spring. It is lovely walking around seeing so many flowers, and it is great to see the diversity of insects that the flowers attract. Shown here is a couple of small stemless geophytes called Oxalis obtusa that are in full bloom now. See the end of the report for a collage of flowers that we have been seeing on the reserve.
Along one of our roads on the reserve, Erica Avenue, grows a rare fynbos species called Erica glandulosa subspecies fourcadei. On the Red List this species is classified as vulnerable, and its population is decreasing due coastal development, alien invasive plants and the lack of fire. We are honoured to protect the habitat of this endemic species which range extends only from Mossel Bay to Cape St Francis.
Another fynbos species was sighted called the Common sunshine conebush (Leucadendron salignum) and is part of the Proteaceae family. Leucadendrons are dioecious meaning they have male and female plants. This individual is the male plant but the female (that looks a bit different) is yet to be sighted on Dunefields.
The Marbled leaf-toed gecko was found close to the vegetable garden under dead logs. This individual was roughly 5 cm in length. They are not territorial, and can live in groups where all the females can share a nest to lay their eggs in. These little creatures are often overlooked but play an important role in the ecosystem keeping insect numbers under control.
A difficult bird to photograph being very shy and active in the canopies is the Blue-mantled crested flycatcher. This individual is the male showing off its blue feathers on its head, hence the name “blue-mantled”. They mainly feed on insects, and move between canopies of the trees in search of food.
All along the roads at Dunefields there are trees that are being stripped of their bark up to knee height. This is being done by Cape porcupines that eat the inner bark of the trees. On our website that we will launch soon, we will share the insightful footage of this interesting behaviour captured by our camera traps.The lens of the camera trap was blocked by a spider, easily identified by the pair of four legs.
