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,

Last year the picnic bench at the Bridge Lookout disappeared and, thanks to Ellie’s efforts, the Botanical Society kindly agreed to donate one. We asked for delivery on the day of our monthly meeting so we would have enough able bodies to mix some concrete to make this bench a little more difficult to remove.

The monthly meeting is coming up and we need to make more space for trees so we tackled a stretch beyond the Cycad patch and, rather than piling the branches in heaps, we now use them as a perimeter barrier and that works better. First though Neil came in to see if there is any

During the various walks with Adrian Odgers and Woodridge one of the stories he tells is about the resemblance between a telephone book and the paperbark tree. Well, now we have proof. Hardly a month after the fire new shoots appear and soon we will have a lush tree again. Talking about proof, we can

After all the gloom and doom lately after the fires the Reserve showed itself from its best side today. Already in the way in the blanket over Ladyslipper was something special to see. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, from the new growth on the Sterculia to the flowering Pelargonium, all too beautiful