Finally all the pieces of the hide were ready to be taken to the Reserve and assembled. First though we had to choose a place and after much debate we settled on the dam wall near the Lily Pond as from there one has very good all round views and there are even some birds […]

The last few postings have been a bit short on detail about the bird hide so I thought it might be nice to put it all together even though some of it has been covered before. It all started on the 6th of March when we went to the Arboretum and saw the devastation the

After all the bird hide activities of the past few weeks it was now time to get back to business as usual First we had wanted to use the monthly meeting to bring some order into the nursery but the weather made that quite an unpleasant option with a cold breeze blowing across the field.

We were quite keen to erect the bird hide so two days after doing the base we were on our way again with a new load of bits and pieces. On arrival at the Reserve we found a few groups of visitors looking lost so first gave them the usual story about the Reserve and

On Wednesday the weather was quite miserable which was fortunate as it gave us an extra day to prepare for the transport of the first sections of the hide. Most sections fitted inside the trailer but the floor and two sides needed to go on top. We needed to walk up and down quite a

The bird hide is nearing completion so it was time to prepare the site further. The brush cutter came in very handy to cut the grass and we also got rid of some encroaching Chrysanthemoides. Our biggest fear is now of course fire so want to keep it reasonably clear around the hide. We pegged

Our monthly meeting was a walk to what we call Platberg but most likely that is not the correct name. We got a permit the previous Wednesday from the Longmore Forest station and this allowed us to take the vehicles through the gate behind Ladyslipper and park near the first watchtower. From there we followed

Today Adrian Odgers and Ellie entertained and educated a fairly large group of Woodridge students while I started on preparing the site where the new bird hide will go. Adrian stayed in the nursery and introduced the students to the wonderful world of orchids with some fascinating stories. Ellie in the meantime took the groups

Work today mainly consisted of what we have been doing the past weeks. It will be a long hard slog to make the arboretum a little bit presentable in the next few months. Apart from the Wednesday Workers doing a bit every week there isn’t much enthusiasm from anyone else in our extended group (where

The picnic table which was concreted in still needed the sponsor’s sign on so that was the first order of the day. It was advised that drilling small holes and then pop riveting would be the most vandal proof so that was duly done. With hindsight I could have made the font a little bigger,