City of Cape Town | MILNERTON RACECOURSE MONTHLY REPORT | 27 MARCH 2014 – 23 APRIL 2014 1

MILNERTON RACECOURSE

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM MONTHLY REPORT

APRIL 2014 COMPILED BY: LANDI LOUW

SITE MANAGER

Report number 78 for the period 27 March 2014 – 23 April 2014

1 FIELD WORK / CONTRACTS

Invasive vegetation clearing (Port Jacksons and Rooikrans): 22 April

Rehabilitation: 22 and 23 April

Path maintenance: 22 April

2 INVASIVE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT

Port Jackson and Rooikrans were removed from the Northern and Southern Areas on 22 April.

3 FIRE MANAGEMENT

Nothing to report.

4 REHABILITATION

Disphyma crassifolium was planted next to the boardwalk and the pathway in the Northern Area on

22 April.

Brush packing took place on 23 April on part of the informal pathway that had started to form in the

Northern Area.

Carpobrotus edulis was planted on 22 April on part of the informal pathway that had started to form

in the Northern Area.

Figure 1: The informal pathway in the Northern Area in February.

Figure 2: The same pathway in April, after brush packing was done.

5 INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT

The tourism signage application was reviewed during March. The application was unsuccessful. A

report by the consultants will be distributed to the EMC.

The “no-cycling” pictogram is in the process of being designed and printed by Kontra Signs.

Stormwater outlets are all open and functioning.

General litter clean-ups of the Northern and Southern Areas were undertaken on 22 April.

Path maintenance in the Northern Area was undertaken on 22 April.

City of Cape Town | MILNERTON RACECOURSE MONTHLY REPORT | 27 MARCH 2014 – 23 APRIL 2014 2

6 FAUNA MANAGEMENT AND OBSERVATIONS

Artificial refugia to collect baseline data on reptile species that are present at Milnerton Racecourse

were placed in the Northern and Southern Areas on 3 April. Three wooden sheets were placed in the

Northern Area and 8 in the Southern Area. They will be checked during the first week of May, after

which they will be removed from the field until September 2014.

A study on “A comparison of aquatic invertebrates present in permanent, seasonal and

temporary pools in the Milnerton Racecourse section of Table Bay Nature Reserve” will be

conducted by an UNISA student, Robyn Kadis, during June 2014. Senior UNISA lecturer, Ms Bokkie

Brand, will be assisting Robyn with her data collection.

A monthly avifauna census was conducted on 19 and 21 April by Helm van Zyl in the Northern and

Southern Areas. 14 Species were recorded in the Northern Area and 16 in the Southern Area. Helm’s

observations included a Black shouldered Kite, a Cape dune Molerat and African Monarch butterflies.

The Biodiversity Database was used to record all fauna and flora sightings for March.

Additional fauna observations April can be seen below:

Figure 3: Cape Longclaw

Figure 4: Cape clawless Otter track

Figure 5: Crab Spider

Figure 6: Silver - bottom Brown

7.1 BIOPHYSICAL MONITORING – VEGETATION

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9

Figure 8: Flora and Fungi species observed during April are as follows from left to right –

1) Orphium frutescens 2) Osteospermum moniliferum 3) Hypochoeris radicata 4) Un –

Identified Fungi 5) Geranium incanum 6) Pelargonium myrrhifolium 7) Pelargonium

captitatum 8) Senecio sp. 9) Oxalis sp.

City of Cape Town | MILNERTON RACECOURSE MONTHLY REPORT | 27 MARCH 2014 – 23 APRIL 2014 3

7.2 BIOPHYSICAL MONITORING – WATER

Figure 13: Fixed point photography of Wetland 1, taken on 14 April.

Figure 14: Fixed point photography of Wetland 2, taken on 14 April.

Figure 15: Fixed point photography of the Dam, taken on 14 April.

Table 1. Monthly records for water-levels, measured at the calibrated measuring points in Wetland 1 and 2.

Table 2. Monthly rainfall records at Milnerton Racecourse since 2007.

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Jan 114 76 67 18 0 23 91 Jan 31 34 47.5 29 10 11 51

Feb 61 46 44.2 0.5 0 10 38 Feb 1 12 29 1.5 0 0 18

Mar 53 28 25 0 0 0 31 Mar 0 0 13 0 0 0 0

Apr 35 18 13 0 0 0 17 Apr 0 5 3 0 9 0 15

May 22 37 35.6 0 0 0 May 1 33 46.6 4 31.6 4.3

Jun 59 69 70 14 26 56 Jun 51 62 71.8 43 61 67.5

Jul 123 153 143 35.6 61 96 86 Jul 82 94 102 46.6 50.2 91 85.5

Aug 150+ 155 145 123.6 57 133 150+ Aug 101 95.5 107 105 75.5 100 150+

Sep 150+ 187 161.5 112.5 71 127 150+ Sep 97 101.5 150+ 93 75 96.5 97

Oct 150+ 160.5 143.5 95.5 59.5 117 150+ Oct 83 91.5 150+ 84 67.2 94.5 91

Nov 150+ 139.5 138 75.5 48 86 150+ Nov 68 77 92 71 61 73 92

Dec 135 108 91 46.75 24 70 104 Dec 52 58.5 69 45 43.5 61 75

Mnth MnthWetland 1 - Southern Area( cm) Wetland 2 - Northern Area (cm)

Year JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC TOTALS

2007 0 28 20 65 61.5 111 106 102 18 20 34 24 589.5

2008 3 12 7 18 54 107 175 87 160 15 60.5 5 703.5

2009 3 8 0 44 166 81 96.5 80 67 45.5 82 9 682

2010 2.5 5 8.5 7 121 100.5 62 60.5 14.5 30.5 36.5 10.5 459

2011 13 5.5 5.5 30 47 55 70 101 42 20 31 32.5 452.5

2012 5.75 2.5 18 78 61 81.5 111.5 100 60 36 15.5 3 572.75

2013 7.5 41 26.5 48.5 41.5 148 74 232 64 3 89 2.5 777.5

2014 24.5 4.9 50 32.5

Rainfall Data (mm)

City of Cape Town | MILNERTON RACECOURSE MONTHLY REPORT | 27 MARCH 2014 – 23 APRIL 2014 4

8. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND OUTREACH

Twenty children from Home of Hope visited Milnerton Racecourse on 16 April. The Site Manager and

the Environmental Education Intern from Table Bay Nature Reserve designed and presented a

programme on “Animal Homes”. The programme involved a treasure hunt, a puzzle game as well as an

acitivty called “building your own tortoise".

Figure 7: The group from Home of Hope being led by the Site Manager.

Figure 6: A psychedelic Angulate Tortoise.

Figure 8: A puzzle of a Cape Grysbok.

9 GENERAL INFORMATION / OBSERVATIONS / MEETINGS

The Geocache device at Milnerton Racecourse is attracting visitors to the reserve. Sixty eight records

of visitors commenting on their experience at the reserve can be viewed on the website

(http://www.geochaching.com). A few of these comments can be seen in Appendix 1.

10 ITEMS TO BE ADDRESSED IN THE UPCOMING MONTHS

Fauna Management Procedures Manual - in progress

Cape Grysbok Species Management Plan – in progress

Prepare for research on exclusion plots – in progress

Prepare for research on aquatic invertebrates – in progress

Placement of “no cycling” pictogram – in progress

Check and remove artificial refugia – May 2014

Nocturnal survey – May 2014

Set-up of trap array – May 2014

2014

Update and review the APO – May 2014

Add law enforcement section to management plan – 2014

Reserve signage – 2014

Grysbok introduction – 2014

Tourism signage – 2014

Update Maps - 2014

Assessment of “previously known” and “extinct” lists on the Biodiversity Database

2014

City of Cape Town | MILNERTON RACECOURSE MONTHLY REPORT | 27 MARCH 2014 – 23 APRIL 2014 5

APPENDIX 1. Extract of comments on Milnerton Racecourse from the Geochache website

Logs for A Little Known Gem

All Logs (68)

Found it 09/04/2013 Nice walk in the wetlands. Thanks for this one

Found it 09/03/2013 Very nice walk, awesome place! Tftc.

Found it 08/25/2013 Red Bishop birds in abundance today. Lovely tranquil reserve and we had it all to ourselves. Pity about all the houses built

around it and detracting from the nature. Getting to the cache was something of an obstacle course hopping on stepping "logs"

and skirting around the wet patces but once there it was an easy find. Dipped some travellers. TFTC

Found it 08/18/2013 Nice park to walk around in. Saw some very nice birds and waterfoul. Route very wet to GZ. Made it there and signed the log.

TFTC and showing me this park.

Found it 08/17/2013 #967 Out geocaching with my muggle brother. We found this one at 15:55 this afternoon. My brother is a bird watcher and we

compared our games: (i) what he searches flies around while what I search stays put; (ii) He searches a closed list of birds while

there are always more of what I search. (iii) However, what I search helps me to discover previously unknown spots where you

can find what he searches for! And when we found this cache we also found a few cape doldrum duck in the pond in the

beautiful park that one would never expect in this built up area. We also spotted some bokkie spoor in the wet walking trails -

probably Kaap Grey Duiker (or maybe bergbokkie who logged the cache just before us ) Thank you for sharing this

beautiful spot and the interesting information about the nature reserve with us.

Found it 08/17/2013 Nice to see the park recovering from the fire earlier this year. The area is so wet after the rains and the birds are plenty. With

NaCowi. TFTC

Found it 08/17/2013 an easy find with Bergbokkie on a lovely winters day! TFTC!

Found it 08/12/2013 A gem indeed! Thanks for letting us in on the secret. :)