City Nature Challenge 2019: Cape Town's Journal

Journal archives for April 2019

April 2, 2019

Events around the Cape Town City Nature Challenge 2019

A variety of events will be held around the city. Join us at ones near you or at areas you have never visited or your favourite reserve!.

Please visit this page regularly as updates will be posted as they become available. Events will also be posted on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pg/iNatureZA/events/
Click on the event to find out the details.

If you would like to meet like-minded people, or would like to find out more about our species from local experts, or just discover the wildlife in your area, join us at one of our events. Typically events last for an hour or two, and will give you an opportunity to get some observations posted.

REMINDER - OPEN DAYS:
All City of Cape Town Nature Reserves will have open days and free access on all four days of the challenge.
Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens will have free access on Friday 26 if you show your app with City Nature Challenge observations on your smartphone.
Table Mountain National Park requires valid Wild or Activity cards at paypoints - the rest of the National Park is open access.
The City of Cape Town is providing extra security at reserves. All activities are entirely at your own risk.

EVENTS

Friday - 26 April
am
Schools in nature reserves: contact your local nature reserve for details.
Arderne Gardens Nature Challenge, Kenilworth
Bothasig Fynbos Reserve BioBlitz, Bothasig
Bioblitz at Joostenberg conservation site, Brakenfell
Communitree City Nature Challenge (all week - see below)
Company Gardens in a Snapshot, City Centre
CREW Klipheuwel to Joostenberg Bioblitz, Klipheuwel
Friends of Lions Head & Signal Hill City Challenge, City Centre
Kirstenbosch Streams Mini-Challenge , Kirstenbosch - all day
Photo walk at Cape Flats Nature Reserve, Bellville
Table Bay Birding, Rietvlei
Tokai Arboretum Nature Challenge, Tokai
Vesuvius Way Bioblitz, Mitchells Plain
pm
Kirstenbosch Streams Mini-Challenge , Kirstenbosch - all day
eve
Bioblitz at False Bay Nature Reserve, Zeekoekvlei
Rondebosch Common night walk, Rondebosch

Saturday - 27 April
am
Blaauwberg Burn Bioblitz, Blaauwberg
Blaauwberg Coastal Bioblitz, Blaauwberg
Blaauwberg Hiking Trail Bioblitz, Blaauwberg
Bracken Bioblitz, Brackenfell
Cape Flats Nature Reserve Challenge, Bellville
Constantia Valley Green Belt Bioblitz: Grootboschkloof, Constantia
CREW Tygerberg Bioblitz, Tygerberg
CREW Mamre to Atlantis Bioblitz, Mamre (numbers limited)
Do your own green thing, Kommetjie
Elsieskraal River Pinelands iNaturalist Bioblitz & Clean Up, Pinelands
Herp Koeberg Nature Reserve Bioblitz, Koeberg (Fully subscribed)
Liesbeek take on the City Nature Challenge, Liesbeek
Rondebosch Common Bioblitz, Rondebosch
Table Bay Bioblitz, Rietvlei
There’s more than birds at the Strandfontein “Smelly Ponds”, Strandfontein
V&A Waterfront Bioblitz, Waterfront
pm
Dalebrook Tidal Pool Diving ‘Bioblitz’, Dalebrook
Looking beyond birding at Rondevlei Nature Reserve, Rondevlei
Lower Tokai Park Bioblitz, Tokai Park
Rondebosch Common Bioblitz, Rondebosch

Sun Valley Shoot-About: Sun Valley, Noordhoek
Tokai Arboretum Nature Challenge

eve

Sunday - 28 April
am
Fungi Foray, Tokai Arboretum
Herp Table Mountain Bioblitz, Constantia Neck
Kenilworth Bioblitz, Kenilworth Racecourse
Liesbeek take on the City Nature Challenge, Liesbeek
Shipwreck Trail, Cape of Good Hope, Olifantsbos
Take Back our Mountains” and SANParks hike to Sentinel Peak and Seal Island
Tygerberg Nature Reserve CREW Challenge, Tygerberg

pm

eve

Monday - 29 April
am
Species Mop up: contact your local CREW or Friends group for details.
Bioblitz at Haasendal Nature Reserve, Kuilsriver
Bioblitz at Harmony Flats, Paardevlei, and Kogelbaai, Gordons Bay
Intaka island bioblitz
Schoongesight Blitz, Camphill Village (details pending)
Rocky shore bioblitz at Strandfontein Pavillion, Strandfontein
Rondvlei pathway bioblitz, Rondevlei
Steenbras Nature Reserve Wetland Wander, Steenbras
Tygerberg Nature Reserve BioBlitz, Tygerberg

pm

eve
Tidal pool probing with George & Margo Branch, Dalebrook
.
PROJECTS
There are also some cool projects - why not participate in them!:

•• Cape Town Ant Atlas - Atlassing Ants is Awesome!
•• Cape Town School Nature Challenge - Is your class taking part?
•• Polyphagous Shothole Borer Beetle Atlas - Help us map this scourge.

INVITATIONS
Communitree Invites you to help document and monitor their sites. The focal sites for the Communitree Nature Challenge are:

Thanks to all the groups and people who have staged these events. None of this would have been possible without you.

  • - - Events completed : we trust you enjoyed participating in your choice of events - - -

LEAD INS:

False Bay Underwater Club talk on Wed 24 April at 20h00 hosting Georgina Jones, Wynberg

Posted on April 2, 2019 01:30 PM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 0 comments | Leave a comment

April 25, 2019

Press Release - from Western Cape Government

Minister encourages citizens to help put Cape Town’s unique fauna and flora on the global map.
Cape Town to take part in 2019 City Nature Challenge
Starting from 26-29 April 2019, cities around the world will be competing to see who can make the most observations of nature and find the most species, using an app to document their findings in the 2019 City Nature Challenge.
The City Nature Challenge, “bioblitz-style” competition, was designed by staff at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (Lila Higgins) and California Academy of Sciences (Alison Young). The Challenge is an international event where cities are in a contest against each other to see who can make the most observations of nature, who can find the most species, and who can engage the most people.
MEC Anton Bredell for Western Cape Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, “This is a fantastic initiative and opportunity for people to get to know their urban biodiversity. I want to encourage people across the City to take part. Cape Town is one of three cities on the African continent taking part – let’s make our mark and document as much as we can!”

The competition consists of two parts, documenting of plants, flowers and animals will take from 26-29 April 2019, after which a few days are needed to identify what has been found. The winning cities will be announced on 6 May 2019.
As the Mother City is located in one of the most biodiverse areas in the world, the City of Cape Town (which manages 20 nature reserves and various nature areas) will be open to anyone interested in recording their observations of plant and animal life over these four days.

Participants may record any plant, animal, fungi, slime mould or any other evidence of life (scat, fur, tracks, shells, carcasses) found in Cape Town and should not forget to record the location of their findings.
Marlene Laros, Director for Biodiversity and Coastal Management at the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning says, “The City of Cape Town is seen as the most biodiverse City in the world with more than 3 350 plant species alone. Ongoing conservation depends on informed and involved citizens who celebrate these assets. Citizen science platforms like iNaturalist make this possible. The City Nature challenge presents an excellent opportunity to explore the City.”
Karen Shippey, Chief Director for Environmental Sustainability at the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning says: “It’s amazing how technology bridges the gap, and in this case, allows anyone to be a biologist for a day by allowing them to make their mark (or take a snap) and document the fauna and flora in our urban surroundings. These discoveries can start in your own garden. This is a wonderful way to get your kids to actually “see” the nature which is all around us. Don’t be afraid to look up information with your child about an insect or plant you notice- that’s how we all learn”.
For more information visit citynaturechallenge.org or iNaturalist.org. or

iNaturalist is available for download from the AppStore or Google Play.

Posted on April 25, 2019 05:52 AM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Friday's Activities - City Nature Challenge 2019 Cape Town

A full list of Events can be found on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pg/iNatureZA/events/) or this News Link

REMINDER - OPEN DAYS:
All City of Cape Town Nature Reserves will have open days and free access on all four days of the challenge.
Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens will have free access on Friday 26 if you show your app with City Nature Challenge observations on your smartphone.
Table Mountain National Park requires valid Wild or Activity cards at paypoints - the rest of the National Park is open access.
The City of Cape Town is providing extra security at reserves. All activities are entirely at your own risk.

FOCUS for the day

Schools in nature reserves: biodiversity in our schools, gardens and urban parks.

EVENTS
Click on the event to find out the details.

Friday - 26 April

morning
Arderne Gardens Nature Challenge, Kenilworth
Bothasig Fynbos Reserve BioBlitz, Bothasig
Bioblitz at Joostenberg conservation site, Brakenfell
Company Gardens in a Snapshot, City Centre
CREW Klipheuwel to Joostenberg Bioblitz, Klipheuwel
Friends of Lions Head & Signal Hill City Challenge, City Centre
Kirstenbosch Streams Mini-Challenge , Kirstenbosch - all day
Photo walk at Cape Flats Nature Reserve, Bellville
Table Bay Birding, Rietvlei
Tokai Arboretum Nature Challenge, Tokai
Vesuvius Way Bioblitz, Mitchells Plain

afternoon
Kirstenbosch Streams Mini-Challenge , Kirstenbosch - all day

evening
Bioblitz at False Bay Nature Reserve, Zeekoekvlei
Rondebosch Common night walk, Rondebosch

PROJECTS
There are also some cool projects - why not participate in them!:

•• Cape Town Ant Atlas - Atlassing Ants is Awesome!
•• Cape Town School Nature Challenge - Is your class taking part?
•• Polyphagous Shothole Borer Beetle Atlas - Help us map this scourge.

See the Communitree City Nature Challenge (all week - visit our focus sites and help document the biodiveristy on them.

A special thanks to WESSA Friends Groups, CREW (Custodians of Rare and Endangered WIldflowers), Kirstenbosch Guides, City Nature Reserve Staff, University of the Western Cape Reserve Staff, and the Freshwater Biodiversity Unit, SANBI for organizing the events.

Posted on April 25, 2019 04:35 PM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 2 comments | Leave a comment

April 26, 2019

Saturday's Activities - City Nature Challenge 2019 Cape Town

A full list of Events can be found on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pg/iNatureZA/events/) or this News Link

REMINDER - OPEN DAYS:
All City of Cape Town Nature Reserves will have open days and free access on all four days of the challenge.
Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens had free access on Friday 26, and to BotSoc members.
Table Mountain National Park requires valid Wild or Activity cards at paypoints - the rest of the National Park is open access.
The City of Cape Town is providing extra security at reserves. All activities are entirely at your own risk.

FOCUS for the day

Bioblitzes in our Nature Reserves: Open Day - please visit your nature reserves.

EVENTS
Click on the event to find out the details.

Saturday - 27 April

morning
Blaauwberg Burn Bioblitz, Blaauwberg
Blaauwberg Coastal Bioblitz, Blaauwberg
Blaauwberg Hiking Trail Bioblitz, Blaauwberg
Bracken Bioblitz, Brackenfell
Cape Flats Nature Reserve Challenge, Bellville
Constantia Valley Green Belt Bioblitz: Grootboschkloof, Constantia
CREW Tygerberg Bioblitz, Tygerberg
CREW Mamre to Atlantis Bioblitz, Mamre (numbers limited)
Do your own green thing, Kommetjie
Elsieskraal River Pinelands iNaturalist Bioblitz & Clean Up, Pinelands
Herp Koeberg Nature Reserve Bioblitz, Koeberg (Fully subscribed)
Liesbeek take on the City Nature Challenge, Liesbeek
Rondebosch Common Bioblitz, Rondebosch
Table Bay Bioblitz, Rietvlei
There’s more than birds at the Strandfontein “Smelly Ponds”, Strandfontein
V&A Waterfront Bioblitz, Waterfront

afternoon
Dalebrook Tidal Pool Diving ‘Bioblitz’, Dalebrook
Looking beyond birding at Rondevlei Nature Reserve, Rondevlei
Lower Tokai Park Bioblitz, Tokai Park
Rondebosch Common Bioblitz, Rondebosch

Sun Valley Shoot-About: Sun Valley, Noordhoek
Tokai Arboretum Nature Challenge

nothing planned for the evening - why not try and attract moths?

PROJECTS
There are also some cool projects - why not participate in them!:

•• Cape Town Ant Atlas - Atlassing Ants is Awesome!
•• Cape Town School Nature Challenge - Is your class taking part?
•• Polyphagous Shothole Borer Beetle Atlas - Help us map this scourge.

See the Communitree City Nature Challenge (all week - visit our focus sites and help document the biodiveristy on them.

A special thanks to WESSA Friends Groups, CREW (Custodians of Rare and Endangered WIldflowers), City Nature Reserve Staff, University of the Western Cape Reserve Staff, Pinelands Scouts, The Herpetological Society, Community groups the Cape Bird Club and the Two Oceans aquarium for organizing some awesome events.
Please support them and turn out in numbers!

Posted on April 26, 2019 11:45 PM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 0 comments | Leave a comment

April 27, 2019

Sunday's Activities - City Nature Challenge 2019 Cape Town

A full list of Events can be found on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pg/iNatureZA/events/) or this News Link

REMINDER - OPEN DAYS:
All City of Cape Town Nature Reserves will have open days and free access on all four days of the challenge.
Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens had free access on Friday 26, and to BotSoc members.
Table Mountain National Park requires valid Wild or Activity cards at paypoints - the rest of the National Park is open access.
The City of Cape Town is providing extra security at reserves. All activities are entirely at your own risk.

FOCUS for the day

Your favourite places: hikes, beaches, parks, gardens. We need them all

EVENTS
Click on the event to find out the details.

Sunday - 28 April
morning
Fungi Foray, Tokai Arboretum
Herp Table Mountain Bioblitz, Constantia Neck
Kenilworth Bioblitz, Kenilworth Racecourse
Liesbeek take on the City Nature Challenge, Liesbeek
Shipwreck Trail, Cape of Good Hope, Olifantsbos
Take Back our Mountains” and SANParks hike to Sentinel Peak and Seal Island
Tygerberg Nature Reserve CREW Challenge, Tygerberg

no listed afternoon or evening activities
your own time - in your neighbourhood look around

PROJECTS
There are also some cool projects - why not participate in them!:

•• Cape Town Ant Atlas - Atlassing Ants is Awesome!
•• Cape Town School Nature Challenge - Is your class taking part?
•• Polyphagous Shothole Borer Beetle Atlas - Help us map this scourge.

See the Communitree City Nature Challenge (all week - visit our focus sites and help document the biodiveristy on them.

A special thanks to WESSA Friends Groups, CREW (Custodians of Rare and Endangered WIldflowers), City Nature Reserve Staff, The Herpetological Society, and TMNP Honorary Rangers for organizing some awesome events.
Please support them and turn out in numbers!

Posted on April 27, 2019 10:45 PM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 0 comments | Leave a comment

April 28, 2019

Monday's Activities - City Nature Challenge 2019 Cape Town

A full list of Events can be found on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pg/iNatureZA/events/) or this News Link

REMINDER - OPEN DAYS:
All City of Cape Town Nature Reserves will have open days and free access on all four days of the challenge.
Table Mountain National Park requires valid Wild or Activity cards at paypoints - the rest of the National Park is open access.
The City of Cape Town is providing extra security at reserves. All activities are entirely at your own risk.

FOCUS for the day

Mopping up. Chasing down those missing species. See the Facebook page and down below for details! - and getting up our observer numbers!

EVENTS
Click on the event to find out the details.

Monday - 29 April - the last day of the challenge

Morning
Species Mop up: contact your local CREW or Friends group for details.
Bioblitz at Haasendal Nature Reserve, Kuilsriver
Bioblitz at Harmony Flats, Paardevlei, and Kogelbaai, Gordons Bay
Intaka island bioblitz
Schoongesight Blitz, Camphill Village (details pending)
Rocky shore bioblitz at Strandfontein Pavillion, Strandfontein
Rondevlei pathway bioblitz, Rondevlei
Steenbras Nature Reserve Wetland Wander, Steenbras
Tygerberg Nature Reserve BioBlitz, Tygerberg

Afternoon
Mopping up!
Have you done the goggos and mammals in your garden? Look for skinks, chameleons, slugeaters and toads. And dont forget the birds visiting your feeders. And ants - have you recorded the ants in your garden?
Have you done your city parks: what trees are there? any signs of Polyphagous Shothole Borer Beetle? What ants can be found there? See the projects below.
CREW teams will be visiting areas with an eye to find species that nobody recorded. If you are available for your local reserve, then please contact the reserve manager to see what needs to be done.

Evening
Tidal pool probing with George & Margo Branch, Dalebrook
&
Please leave on some lights and see what moths you can attract. Light pollution kills huge numbers of moths, so dont do this often: do you have any spectacular moths in your home?

MIDNIGHT on Monday night sees the end of the challenge. You must have taken all your photographs (including the moths) by midnight to qualify for the challenge. Photographs must be uploaded before Monday 6th May.

PROJECTS
There are also some cool projects - why not participate in them!:

•• Cape Town Ant Atlas - Atlassing Ants is Awesome!
•• Cape Town School Nature Challenge - Is your class taking part?
•• Polyphagous Shothole Borer Beetle Atlas - Help us map this scourge.

See the Communitree City Nature Challenge (all week - visit our focus sites and help document the biodiveristy on them.

A special thanks to WESSA Friends Groups, CREW (Custodians of Rare and Endangered WIldflowers), City Nature Reserve Staff, Century City, and George & Margo Branch for organizing some awesome events.
Please support them and turn out in numbers!

Posted on April 28, 2019 11:11 PM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 3 comments | Leave a comment

April 30, 2019

WELL DONE CAPE TOWN

A huge thanks to everyone who took part and helped in the City Nature Challenge.

We are done, but parts of the world are still busy for a few more hours.

We have set the target for the number of observations and number of species, and these towns will be gunning for our target. Let us see if we have done enough!

To all of you who still need to load up observations. You have until 6 May to do so, but please do it now. Election madness is upon us, so please use today and tomorrow to get cracking. Plus we have the Kirstenbosch Garden Fair for this weekend: insane timing - all our Kirstenbosch specialists are going to be busy there! Anything not uploaded by the end of May 1, is going to be difficult to identify, so please try and upload everything soonest!

Time for the IDs parties.

The First ID party will be 10am at the Kirstenbosch Research Center at 10am today.
Tomorrow 1st May will be a special ID PARTY at 10am to 1pm. Please pop in to find out the tools to make this most efficient.
We will be continuing with the ID parties until Saturday.

Please rope in everybody and any body!
There are two goals.

  1. Get identifications of "plants" to the family or genus
  2. Get the families and genera to species.

Our strategy is to cherry pick. Focus on those species not yet identified, and then sweep up the duplicates.

That should work for plants. For other groups the work load should be less onerous and we can just tackle them all!
We have 4,100 observations only identified as plants or animals. We have 6,600 more observations identified only to family or genus. We have 31,000 observations that need ID. And we should just check some of the rarer species to make sure that they have been properly IDed. So we have a huge task ahead of us. Please get cracking.

Please help. If you see someone has not been busy - please try and contact them.
Right now please: we need especially Doug E-B, Botaneek, and our daisy specialists! Please get them going!
CREW and Botanical Society A-team: this is your goldenhour - the hard work is done, just the IDs are needed!.

Posted on April 30, 2019 05:40 AM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 0 comments | Leave a comment