August 2019 Monthly Report

The August monthly report details the Rangers activities, encounters and think pieces surrounding this month. The report begins with the usual monthly compliance statistics, followed by a radio talk with SFM, several penguin release days including a visit by the Lakes Club, a section on fauna and flora encountered by the Rangers, a short consideration around alien clearing methodologies, followed by a generous GRCCT camera trap sponsorship story. The report then goes on to detail the new camera trap monitoring pilot project that was enabled by the GRCCT sponsorship, followed by some chipper maintenance and concluding with the Flower crab spider which features as this month’s monthly species profile.

The iridescent purple flower from a sourfig.

‘The typical nature photograph shows a butterfly on a pretty flower. The conservation photograph shows the same thing, but with a bulldozer coming at it in the background.’ – Joel Sartore 2 AUGUST 2019

Compliance Management

Marine Living Resources Act During August, a total of 25 recreational fishing, spearfishing and bait collecting permits were checked by Taylor, Kei and Daniel. Of the 25 permits checked, 4 people (16%) failed to produce a valid permit and were issued a verbal warning this is a nice reduction in the amount of illegal fisherman.

Environmental Education

Rangers on radio Once again, the Fransmanshoek Rangers joined Fred Orban and Cathy McDonald on the SFM radio for another exciting talk on the activities and happenings at Fransmanshoek Conservancy. This was the third time this year the Rangers were invited to speak on the radio station, which gives the Rangers a good platform to get vital information out there to make a positive change.

This time Apogee and Daniel spoke about recreational angler statistics in South Africa, the Voortrekkers’ visit to Fransmanshoek and the activities they partook in, and the Southern Rock Agama and why it is such an interesting little creature.

Apogee and Daniel at the Hartenbos Waterfront ready for their talk with SFM radio.

Penguin Release and Lakes Bird Club visit

On the 3rd and again on the 20th of August, the Fransmanshoek Rangers accompanied the SAPREC team on the Stilbaaitjie beach for yet another release of African Penguins, Spheniscus demersus. These penguins were all found along the Mossel Bay municipality coast and taken to be rehabilitated at SAPREC’s facility in Mosdustria just outside Mossel Bay where they were all led to recovery.

3 AUGUST 2019

On the 3rd of August the Conservancy Rangers hosted the Lakes Bird club at Fransmanshoek point. Kei met with the group, gave some short talks, then led the group down to Stilbaaitjie where he had also co-ordinated their visit to coincide with the SAPREC release of five African Penguins from Stilbaaitjie. The Lakes Bird club team were all very excited to witness the release of these penguins. Carol Walton of SAPREC supervised the release and then gave some informational talks surrounding the Penguins and their road to recovery and release.

Again, on the 20th the rangers joined up with Rene Hodges (S.M.A.R.T.) and Carol Walton (SAPREC) for the release of another five penguins. The penguins were let out of their containers; confused at first, but happily made their way back to the ocean from where they first came.

A recently released waddle of Penguins about to become a raft of penguins at Stilbaaitjie.

The Lakes Bird Club and other spectators watching on as Carol and her SAPREC team release the penguins.

4 AUGUST 2019

Fauna & Flora

In this section we make for some easy reading, as we provide some picture highlights of plants and seen in the Conservancy this month with some short interesting facts.

Coleonema album, Klipboegoe or White Confetti Bush of the citrus family. The leaves are used as pot-pourri, deodoriser and repellent. The plant is found on coastal rocky outcrops where fisherman often crush its essential oil containing leaves in their hands to remove the smell of their bait, and where it gets its colloquial name, fisherman’s friend. Listed as least concern on the IUCN Redlist.

Mabuya homalocephala, the Red-sided skink lays up to 10 between November and December in a small dug out chamber in sandy soils, under logs or rocks. The breeding males white striped flank turns bright red. Listed as least concern on the IUCN Redlist.

5 AUGUST 2019

An ecological interaction: A Southern Boubou, ferrugineus (listed Least concern on IUCN Redlist) trying to eat a Koppie Foam Grasshopper, Dictyophorus spumans (no conservation status for this taxon). Foam grasshoppers extract and store heart poisons (cardiac glycosides) from milkweeds on which it feeds and exudes these when molested, as in this case. Known to be fatal to dogs if eaten.

Alien Clearing

Alien clearing can sometimes be seen as an unbearable task. Depending on which species and how intense the infestation is, it could require many hours of manual labor and potentially high costs of using heavy machinery. South Africa is unfortunately riddled with alien plant species, not all of which are invasive but a large host of species are. The Australian Acacia species, such as Acacia cyclops (Rooikrans), A. saligna (Port Jackson), A. melanoxylon (Black Wood) and A. mearnsii (Black Wattle), all of which are highly invasive, are found throughout South Africa. The South American cactus and agave species are also a common alien invasive resident, as well as the infamous lantana. The list is not restricted to just these species as South Africa is home to many more alien invasive plants.

A common misconception is that alien clearing is a once off project. There are many methods of controlling alien plants, with some methodologies which are immediate, such as mechanical removal; some which are short term, such as herbicide spraying; and a long term method of using bio controls. Different species respond differently based on their control methods. For example: A. cyclops lack the ability to re-coppice once it has been chopped by cutting the main trunk of the tree, which will kill it outright and it will not re-sprout. Australian Gum species however are fantastic re-sprouters, and simply cutting the tree down will mean that in a few moths a few baby trees will be coppicing from the “mother” tree trunk.

With alien clearing being a very tedious and expensive task, it is often done and then forgotten about. This is a mistake that many landowners/managers make. A follow-up program is absolutely essential for any alien clearing project. Again, the follow-up program should not consist of one site review, and should rather be assessed regularly on an annual basis to see if new alien plants are emerging after

6 AUGUST 2019 the initial clearing. This is important as alien plants re-emerge on the same sites, largely due to the “seed Bank” but also some plant species’ ability to re-coppice. Often when large stands of trees are cleared, a heavy infestation follows due the sudden availably of light and the disturbed environment. A follow up program ensures that any new development of alien plants plants, that were left out of the initial clearing, will be taken care off.

Some Acacia species, such as A. mearnsii, are estimated to have seedbanks that could be viable and last up to 100 years, which means that even if you remove every single individual plant in one go, there is the potential for new aliens to establish from the original infestations’ seed bank for the next century. Follow-up programs, if done correctly, will gradually become less expensive and laborious over time as each time you do a follow up, the number of sources (both seed and propagule) decreases. The lack of a follow up clearing could lead to more dense infestation than before. Alien clearing is not a once off task, rather a planned investment that requires resources set aside to tackle the task each and every year till a pristine environment has been restored.

GRCCT Camera Trap Sponsorship

During August, the Conservancy once again received sponsored equipment from the Garden Route Casino Community Trust (GRCCT), this time to the value of R16 392.00. The sponsorship took the form of 4 new camera traps, their protective casings and all the peripherals.

Kei initially motivated for a camera trap pilot study which will be used to undertake a faunal monitoring project to create an up-to-date inventory of the presence of small to large fauna found within the Conservancy. The Conservancy aims to achieve a more detailed record of the large and medium mammal fauna in the area, as animals such as mammals are elusive and difficult to monitor. The camera trap footage captured can be sent to institutions that are doing scientific studies on specific species for further analysis and recommendations. More on this project in the story below.

The GRCCT Sponsored Camera traps and all the periphals. Thanks to the GRCCT for the ongoing support!

7 AUGUST 2019

A massive thank you to GRCCT for once again creating the sponsorship opportunities that the Conservancy has continued to enjoy. The new camera traps will greatly aid the Rangers in their environmental monitoring and Ranger research projects. We look forward to the next opportunity where the Conservancy would like to secure conservation project related funding.

Camera Trap Pilot Study: Terrestrial Mammals of the Conservancy

This month the Rangers initiated a mammal monitoring camera trap pilot study to compare the terrestrial mammal species diversity and richness found throughout the Conservancy. A secondary objective of this project is to compare the assemblage of mammals found in different vegetation types and comparing indigenous, mixed invaded and fully invaded ecosystems. The project aims to look for species richness between the indigenous vegetation, alien-invaded vegetation (Rooikrans) and in the peri-urban human settlement areas. Additionally, the project serves to provide feedback and create buy-in with each of the different estates and communities found within the Conservancy and raise awareness to what creatures are cohabitating with people. An interesting consideration of the project; is what influence of varying degree of human activity has on the assemblage of mammals in each particular unit within the Conservancy. One would naturally expect the more undisturbed areas to carry larger mammals and the more human populated areas to be home to smaller mammals with scavenger tendencies, such as the genets and mongoose. These are assumptions for now.

For the pilot project, the Conservancy had been divided into 5 main focus areas; namely Springerbaai, Boggomsbaai (Kleinbos included), Vleesbaai, the Fransmanshoek Peninsula and the Misgunst Dunes area. Each area had been overlaid with a 100m x 100m grid and 5 random blocks were selected in each (based on a randomised excel program), where the Rangers then went to go and find a suitable spot within those selected blocks to set up a single trap (the Conservancy has 5 camera traps at their disposal). Each camera trap will be left in their random selected location for two weeks in each main focus area. The pilot project will run for a total of 10 weeks. For the first two weeks the cameras have been set up throughout the Fransmanshoek Peninsula area and will then move to the Misgunst dunes for another two weeks. The Rangers will release some highlights photos from both locations in the next Monthly report, so keep a look out.

The idea of the pilot project is work out the best methods needed for the particular Conservancy area, including placement, period of camera placement and season. For a full-on project, many more cameras will be needed to be placed simultaneously in the landscape. So, the pilot project helps to inform the best practises and motivate for the extra resources required.

So, during August the Rangers made sure to get everything in order in preparation for installing the cameras traps. As you can imagine, the project will have its challenges when leaving expensive equipment in areas that have a higher volume of human traffic. This meant purchasing metal stakes, cutting them to size and welding metal loops where the camera traps can be secured and locked. Kei also made sure to have anti-theft cables custom made and fixed to the camera trap housing.

8 AUGUST 2019

Apogee (left) and Taylor (right) getting involved with the technical dirty work required with setting up anti-tampering and secure camera traps.

On the 27th, the Rangers then ground proofed the randomly selected block and chose the best suited placement (i.e. On game trails and roads or areas where animal movement would be funnelled through a concentrated area). The stakes were sledge-hammered into the ground and the camera traps attached to the stake and armed, ready for action.

This project could only have been made possible thanks to the Garden Route Casino Community Trust, which had sponsored the Conservancy 4 new camera traps, their protective cases, batteries and memory cards. Also, a thanks to SCAW Metals Group Mossel Bay who gave a very generous price on their service to installing security cables on the camera trap housing.

9 AUGUST 2019

Taylor posing with one of the installed camera traps.

Chipper Maintenance

The Rangers had to turn much of their attention to maintenance and repair of the Conservancy chipper this month. The chipper continued to experience fuel leaks and wasn’t running as efficiently. Kei stripped down most of the fuel line, carburettor and needle-and-seed and discovered that a lot of the parts were getting clogged up with dirt in the line. Goes without saying that this is expected under the dusty conditions the chipper works under and over the period it has served. The parts and filters had become old and needed replacing. Kei decided to replace the filters as well as add a new in-line fuel filter. Both Kei and Taylor removed the fuel tank and gave it a clean, then fitted a new fuel tap, a new length of fuel hose, clamps and in-line filter. The Rangers also cleaned out the air filter and made sure the needle-and-seed were clean and functioning properly. Since then, the chipper has been back in service and running like a charm again.

Kei busy repairing the chipper and adding an in-line filter.

10 AUGUST 2019

Monthly Species Profile

Common name : Salt bush or Seëplakkie Scientific name : Scaevola plumieri Family : Goodeniaceae Phylum : Tracheophyta

Description: Scaevola plumieri is a small woody evergreen shrub of 1m tall, with clusters of tough waxy hairless succulent leaves with smooth edges. Flowers are white, split vertically and fan shaped to suggest half a flower. Fruits are round, glossy, blue or purple when ripe and 5-10mm in diameter. Habitat: Not endemic to South Africa. The salt bush is a terrestrial shrub of coastal sand dunes. Most commonly found along the east coast of South Africa, less common along south and southwest coast due to summer water shortages. Seëplakkies are commonly seen on coastal sand dunes. Ecology: The salt bush is drought and salt tolerant and catch sand to help stabilise the coastal sand dunes. They are a pioneer species on tropical and sub-tropical sand dunes which establish quite fast and provide the shade needed for other plants to establish. Conservation status: Least Concern No recorded threats for this species. Interesting facts: • Used in the past as a method to stabilise shifting dunes with their extensive root system, which build a sort of hammock system underground. • Waxy layer on top of leaves reduces water loss.

References ~Branch, G., Griffiths, C. and Beckley, L. (2013). Two Oceans. Cape Town: Penguin Random House South Africa, p.428. ~Peter, C., Ripley, B. and Robertson, M. (2003). Environmental limits to the distribution of Scaevola plumieri along the South African coast. Journal of Vegetation Science, 14(1), p.89.

KEI HEYNS TAYLOR FIFORD APOGEE FOWLER DANIEL FERREIRA FRANSMANSHOEK CONSERVANCY 082 084 2791 | [email protected]