African Wildlife and Environment Issue 66

FRIENDS & CLUBS

FRIENDS & CLUBS

I personally enjoy the Land Art mornings to get the participants to really look at the environment and see what artworks it inspired them to make and also a Foraging Walk to look at the uses of all the plants we have here. We ate cooked blackjack, Amaranthus and other leaves, which were delicious, and drank teas made from other plants, which was less successful! Citizen Science We have done quite a few citizen science projects. We have identified all the birds and plants here. We also did a year-long project to identify flying insects with Dr Janine Kelly, then of ARC. She erected a malaise trap, and we did the field work by collecting and preserving the insects caught in the malaise trap twice a week. We have been doing miniSASS testing in the river for about two years and have hosted training for our members, other Friends Groups and students here. BirdLife Northern Gauteng made Serene Valley one of its official bird-ringing sites, so our members have the opportunity to learn more about this science as well. Sense of Community I think our Friends group contributes to the sense of community in our suburb. The people on our mailing list may not all come to our events but do know and appreciate what the group does. Members of the CPF will alert me if the fence has been cut and I will then notify Nature Conservation. Richard Ndlovu, the Field Officer is wonderful about mending our fences fairly quickly when there is a need to. There is good networking with the people living around the river, who let me know if there is a sewer leak, or other problems, but my favourite calls come from member, Lezanne Rossouw, who phones me to run out and see the Long crested Eagle flying overhead or hear the Spotted Eagle Owl (we recently put up two donated owl boxes), or others to tell me they have seen a water mongoose or otter. A few years ago I had an email from someone who had found a goldfish on the lawn. I sent out an email to the distribution list titled ‘Has anyone lost a fish’ and had a huge response. The owner was found and said a Hadedah must have caught it in her fishpond and flown over two houses and dropped it. Meanwhile the children who found it had named it ‘Miracle’ because it survived. The original owner said they could keep it and gave tips and equipment for looking after it, and the two households became friends. People sometimes email me to ask what to do about bats or nesting birds in their ceilings. I usually advise them to leave them and luckily I have got to know many experts in various fields who can give some good advice. Forums Our Friends Group belongs to the WESSA Friends Forum and I represent the group on the Adopt Moreletaspruit Forum. Through these two initiatives, I have got to know the leaders of the other Friends Groups along our river very well, and we all help and support each other in various ways.

Nature Conservation so that they are in the loop of what is planned for the Serene Valley and, of course, obtain all the necessary permissions. The Friends group has a small number of paid-up members, but over 200 people are on our distribution list for newsletters and invitations to events. We find that there are often new people coming to help, or who are interested in particular topics. Work Activities The Friends Group tries to balance the work activities to make participation either fun or a learning experience. Our biggest problems are litter, which is washed down the two rivers, and invasive alien vegetation. Luckily we have some wonderful members like Rose Basson, who are keen litter collectors and always ready to help. We have about 20 storm water drains coming into our two rivers, so street litter from at least three suburbs ends up here. This problem is exacerbated by informal recyclers who take recyclables from dustbins and have a ‘collection depot’ near the river where they re-sort and discard their plastics. We try to get residents to understand that they contribute to the problem by not sorting at source, by binning electronic waste, which recyclers smash up at the river, and by throwing litter from car windows. Together with Nature Conservation we are looking for a win-win solution to the problem of the recyclers. People seem less keen to help with removing invasive alien vegetation. Our Friends group bought loppers, a tree popper and a chainsaw to use for this. In some years we have had groups of nature conservation students here, to do practical work on removing invasives under our supervision, which has been of great help. We have identified 44 different species of invasive alien vegetation and are constantly on the lookout for new ones. Balloon vine and Red sunflowers both appeared here for the first time in 2016. Events to encourage ‘public participation in caring for the Earth’ Since we feel that the more people know about the environment, the more they will care for it, and on this assumption we have organised many interesting events and walks, led by experts, over the years. One which caught many peoples’ attention was a frogging evening. However, there was a huge cloudburst and we had over 40 people picnicking in my lounge while our expert showed the frogs he had brought along. Once the rain stopped we went out with excited children and torches but the only hopping creature was a Parktown prawn, which was the first one most of us had ever seen! A couple of years later we had a Batty-Froggy Picnic one evening, where our experts told us about bats, frogs and the nocturnal animals we have here, such as hedgehogs, porcupines, otters, mongooses and bush babies. Other popular talks have been Insect Walks, a Wetland Walk and miniSASS training. Our Friends group organises a Bird Walk each year and often a Spring Flower Walk. A walk to get to know the invasive alien plants was also popular last year. Most people were amazed that garden favourites like Canarybird bush and Yellow Bells are category 1b and most of them had privets, which are a huge problem, in their gardens!

Friends of SERENE VALLEY Serene Valley, in Garsfontein, Pretoria, covers 11.5 ha at the confluence of the Moreleta and Constantia Spruits and is part of the green corridor along the Moreleta Spruit from its start in Moreleta Park to the Roodeplaat Dam. The official name of the Friends Group is ‘Friends of Moreletaspruit – Hans Strijdom to Serene Sts’ - but that is a bit of a mouthful so the name was shortened to Friends of Serene Valley, as it is in a very peaceful valley and one of the borders is Serene Street.

Carol Martin

History In 1978 a Nature Trail was opened along the Moreletaspruit by the then Parks Department of Pretoria. It was very popular until crime and vagrancy made people afraid to use it. Groups of residents started to fence off sections along the river. In 2004 some residents in this area wanted to do the same. Adelene Marais of City of Tshwane Nature Conservation advised them to call a public participation meeting and Adelene explained the concept of a WESSA Friends Group. This idea was adopted and a committee was formed. The committeewasmentored along theway by Adelene. Our first project was to raise money for the fencing, which was completed in sections as money became available from our funds and from Nature Conservation’s budget. It took a few years, but stopped the illegal dumping and

vagrancy. Serene Valley is open to the public during the day and our members are responsible for locking and unlocking the gates. Committee Three members of that first committee are still committee members: Vice-chairman Richard Glover, Treasurer Stan Williams and the writer, Carol Martin, who has been in the chair since 2006. Other members of the committee have come and gone, and currently we have a long-standing member, Ian Crisp, together with Micaela Cormack and our newest member, Georg Herbst. We meet once a month, fairly informally, usually over a glass of wine by the fireplace, and talk about whatever is happening in the Serene valley and what needs to be done and plan the activities for the next month. Our minutes are sent to Adelene Marais of

www.serenevalley.org.za Facebook Group: Friends of Serene Valley

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57 | African Wildlife & Environment | 66 (2017)