The health of a river is often determined by the quality of the water that flows along its course. Due to differences in geology and vegetation, rivers around the country vary with regards to what is termed “healthy”. For example rivers in the Western Cape tend to have a lower pH (more acidic) than rivers up country. To account for these differences in the chemical characteristics of rivers around the country, scientists have developed the South African Scoring System (SASS). Read the rest of this entry »
Water Quality and SASS
January 19th, 2012Removing alien trees along our river
January 11th, 2012For most of us the sight of lush green-leafed tress hanging over a gentle flowing river, invokes a sense of serenity and calm. However, it is true what they say, that “too much of a good thing is bad”, and this is exactly the case of the trees along the Liesbeek River. To be more specific we are talking about the alien trees along the Liesbeek, of which there are many. Alien trees by simple definition, are trees that do not originally occur within a specific geographical area and here in lies their success. They are able to out-compete our own native species because they might be better suited to the environment (e.g. fast growing) and they also have no competition or predation. Within the Western Cape, the majority of alien trees mostly originate from Europe and parts of Australia where water is readily available throughout the year. Read the rest of this entry »
Friends keep Liesbeeck River pretty for 20 years
November 7th, 2011This article was presented in the Tatler on 3 November – download the original pdf here (2MB). TATLER.pg4_3_nov_2011 – Southern Suburbs Tatler, Cape Community Newspapers, Independent Newspapers (Cape)
A group of individuals 20 years ago changed the course of the Liesbeeck River after the formation of the Friends of the Liesbeeck, under the auspices of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA).
“Our founder members met with the intention of raising awareness of the value of the Liesbeeck River, with a long-term vision of a restored river and its surrounding environment,” says secretary of the Friends group, Francine Becker. Read the rest of this entry »
Friends Group Workshop
November 4th, 2011A warm invitation to attend our
FRIENDS GROUP WORKSHOP:
Saturday 12 November, 10h00 – 13h00
The Friends of the Liesbeek will be leading our November Friends Group Workshop in celebration of their 20th anniversary! This ‘workshop with a difference’ will begin with a slow and gentle walk-and-talk along the beautiful upper reaches of the Liesbeek River down to Paradise Park in Hiddingh/Newlands, visiting the riverine park managed by Joan Parker from the Bishopscourt Village Residents Association en route. Read the rest of this entry »
News from the City: Project to clean up city rivers gets afloat
October 22nd, 2011The Cape Times ran the following article on October 20 2011 at 11:35am
Project to clean up city rivers gets afloat
Babalo Ndenze
Metro Writer
THE city council has employed 400 people to clean 14 of its most polluted rivers as part of a programme named after the late ANC stalwart Kader Asmal.
Yesterday mayor Patricia de Lille announced the river cleaning programme in honour of Asmal, who first identified the need for such an initiative to ensure a clean water supply.
The announcement was attended by Asmal’s widow, Louise.
The river cleaning is to be part of the Mayor’s Special Job Creation Project, announced by De Lille last month. Read the full article City River Project
What do you think?
See FoL committee member Kevin Winter’s response below. Read the rest of this entry »
Birding Big Day Saturday 26 November 2011
September 29th, 2011Birding Big Day, BirdLife South Africa’s major annual fund raising event, takes place on Saturday 26 November this year.
In addition to the traditional categories (open, handicap and community) and the SABAP2 category for the avid committed birders/atlasers, there is also the Garden Bird category. All you need to do is spend a minimum of one uninterrupted hour of observation making a list of the birds that visit your garden.
You can do your BBD survey on 26 Nov. and/or any day during the week leading up to BBD (i.e. 19-25 Nov.). This year, all BBD Garden Bird lists will be curated through the MyBirdPatch website which will generate some valuable data to the MyBirdPatch database plus hopefully add some more active participants to the project. You can also record birds from a registered MyBirdPatch site or a new site which you may consider doing for BBD.
BirdLife South Africa have published a media release about the event – you can view it on the BLSA website (www.birdlife.org.za). Follow the link “Media Release” on the left hand menu or the link lower down on the first page.
Photo: James Cooper
26th Annual International Coastal Cleanup Saturday
September 17th, 2011Friends of the Liesbeek joined staff from the Plastics Federation in cleaning a stretch of beach outside the Lagoon Beach Hotel in Milnerton. Chester and Clemecia from Nature Conservation joined me as we did our little bit to help clean the oceans. I did not see or meet any other Friends at the beach so if you were there post a comment!
The event is organised by the Oceans Conservancy. Some pictures follow. Read the rest of this entry »
Upcoming Events
September 12th, 2011International Coastal Cleanup is on Saturday 17th September. FOL have participated for several years as a result of an article in the newspaper stating that the litter on the beaches of Robben Island came from the Liesbeek. We have usually done a cleanup on Lagoon Beach down towards the mouth of the Salt River Canal. You get there by traveling along Marine Drive towards Milnerton and turning toward the sea at the Otto du Plessis / Boundary Roads intersection. Follow the road around and turn first right. We will be there from early till it’s clean – so come and give us a hand!
Another Clean-up will take place at Observatory from 9h00.
Heritage Day 24th September
Birdwatching at the Observatory Hide
The Friends of the Liesbeek will be meeting on Saturday 24th September at the gate at the South African Astronomical Observatory at 17h00 for an outing to the bird hide on the Raapenberg Wetland. We will also launch our participation in the MyBirdPatch Facebook page. This is a virtual atlas where everyone can log on, ask questions and note the birds found in their backyards, and is coordinated by Les Underhill from the ADU at UCT. For more information see http://mybirdpatch.adu.org.za/.
