All of us are thankful for the wonderful rain we have had so far during our rainy season.

The environment is beautifully green, with the grass having grown so tall that we already wonder what the next fire season will bring. Many landowners are spending the best part of their day mowing lawns. Weeds are in abundance, and all are struggling to keep their gardens reasonably weed free.

The rain also resulted in a huge increase in frogs, spiders and insects, snakes and pests such as snails and flies. Huge toadstools made their appearance once again, while the Pompom grows in vast pink swathes along our roads and on many properties in the Conservancy. Our dirt roads have also deteriorated quite rapidly.

If traipsing about wetlands doesn’t appeal to you, why not create your own frogging environment by attracting frogs to the garden?

As a result of the ongoing rain and cloudy weather during recent weeks, more large, white toadstools than what we are used to, appeared overnight.

We identified the huge toadstools on our property as Amanita phalloides, the deadliest poisonous toadstools known.

At first, they are small and bell-shaped, becoming huge, round and flat, being yellowish/greenish underneath (Liz Greyling).

(From: A field Guide to the Mushrooms of South Africa, by Hilda Levin, Margo Branch, Simon Rappoport & Derek Mitchell, Struik Uitgewers, 1985).

The flowers of the pompom weed (Campuloclinium macrocephalum) flowering all over the Highveld at the moment, may be pretty, but this alien species from South America poses a huge threat to South Africa’s endangered grasslands.

We have reported on this in our Newsletters a number of times and have given advice on getting rid of these plants. Some properties may only have one or two plants at the moment, and these need to be removed before they rapidly multiply. If not, herbicides to destroy these plants may cost you a small fortune.

Residents should please take responsibility for this problem on their own properties. Remember that this is a Category 1 invader plant, and the law requires that it be destroyed.

Some do’s and don’ts:

• Digging out the plant is not effective, as little roots or rhizomes may be left behind which will form a new plant and/or stimulate growth.
• The best time to destroy the pompom is autumn, as this is the time when the plant starts storing nutrients in its rhizomes for winter. The roots will then absorb any herbicide.
• Use recommended herbicides and mixtures, such as 2,4-D, Access 240 (recommended by the Agricultural Research Council) and Brush-off (contact Jaco Loots on 082 807 6006 or Anthonie Buys on 082 565 5603). Follow instructions carefully with regard to safety, as these herbicides are toxic.
• Do not spray herbicides in windy conditions, when the temperature exceeds 28 C, when there is dew on the leaves or if rain is likely within two hours after spraying.
• Cut and burn flowers of the plant to prevent spreading seeds – do not throw it onto the compost heap.
• Do not cut flowers for your vase at home (somebody was spotted doing this on the Ventersdorp road)!
• Do not acquire an attitude of ignoring these plants on your property, just because your neigbours or the provincial authorities do not destroy the many pompons on their properties or along the roads, and you are therefore fighting a losing battle anyway!

We received the following highly upsetting information from Mariette Liefferink (CEO: Federation for a Sustainable Environment):

“I visited the decant area within the West Rand Basin today (27 January 2010) with the news media. What we have feared, has now happened. Untreated Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is now flowing uncontrollably from 18 Winze,17 Winze (lowest topographical points), fountains, etc. Into the receiving environment (Limpopo and Vaal River Catchments). The mine void water in the West Rand Basin was 1 cm from uncontrollable decant during the previous week. It has now reached the surface, and a significant volume of untreated AMD is flowing on the surface into the catchments. An unqualified volume of AMD continues to flow sub-surface. The environmental damage will be irreversible, and the ramifications are enormous”.

We may think that all this is happening far away from our Conservancy, but in the Citizen of 5 February 2010, a stern warning was issued that there would be a serious shortage of quality water for human consumption by 2025, in metropoles and urban areas such as the Witwatersrand, Durban and Cape Town, already by 2013.

It makes one think, does’nt it?

A comprehensive article about acid mine drainage, explaining how AMD comes about, the legal position and scope can be found on the FSE's website.  Click here to read "Joburg's poisoned well", as published in Noseweek.

The phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and resultant crop loss were first noticed in the USA several years ago, but had spread to most European countries by 2007, and now also to South Africa.

Currently cell phone towers in our country are being upgraded to cope during the World Cup Soccer tournament during June/July 2010.

Studies have shown evidence to support the theory of CCD among honeybees due to bioactive microwave radiation from cell phones and their relay towers. Recent experiments have found that worker bees fail to return to their hives when their navigation skills are interfered by the mobile microwaves. Cell phones were placed near beehives. These hives collapsed totally within five to ten days, with the worker bees failing to return to their hives.

The radiation also causes damage to the nervous system of the bee, and it becomes unable to fly. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

(From: Joan du Toit of Cullinan, in the GCA Newsletter, Ear to the Ground, no 22, December 2009).

The United Nations proclaimed 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity, and people all over the world are working to safeguard irreplaceable natural wealth and reduce biodiversity loss. 

As a result of the request to complete species data lists for a year, some of our members carefully recorded the diverse species of reptiles, mammals, bird species, as well as indigenous vegetation on their properties.

They were suprised that eight snake species, 18 different kinds of mammals and 70 bird species (including the very rare and endangered African Finfoot) frequent an area of approximately 100 hectares to the east of the Magalies River, as well as an abundance of 13 indigenous tree and shrub species.

One can hardly imagine the species diversity of the entire Conservancy, covering approximately 5 000 hectares!

This knowledge can support any motivation against undesirable developments in the Conservancy. A detailed species list is available  - click here to view.

Good news – the Long-crested eagle that was spotted during May last year, has once again been seen in the Conservancy. Maybe this beautiful bird (its habitat actually being the Waterberg and the pine forests of Mpumalanga and Natal) has decided to make our Conservancy its home!

Asclepia fruiticosa is often seen along the edge areas of roadsides – look for it the next time you travel along the roads in the Magaliesberg areas. It is also found growing among other weeds in previously cultivated fields that are not being used anymore.