Environmental

BY Marg

The seeds on my winter-flowering aloes are still ripening and already the bees are busy and the garden is alive with spring flowers. A walk around my garden revealed that while the purple haze of Iboza (Tetradenia Riparia) still provides a beautiful contrast to the scarlet Erythrina (coral tree) flowers, other plants have burst into bloom including my favourite creeper Black-eyed Susan (Thunbergia Alata), the Weeping Boerbean (Schotia Brachypetala), white-flowered pistol bush (Duvenoia Adhatoides)and Freesia laxa. In addition, the African potato plants

Bulbine Natalensis

(Hypoxis Hemerocallidea and the dainty H. augustifolia.), Carnival shrub (Ocna Serrulata) and Bulbine natalensis add their splash of sun-yellow. The weavers are busy stripping my palm leaves for their nests and the male pin-tailed whydah birds are getting their breeding colours and growing their tails. Their degree of cheekiness to other birds seems directly proportional to the length of their tails! Meanwhile we have welcomed the safe return of the swallows and yellow-billed kites and enjoy the spring calls of the rain birds (Coucals). May the rains arrive soon!

The basic definition of ecosystem services is the wide ranging benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. These range from food and water, flood control and cooling shade to spiritual, recreational and health benefits.

Every resident on Simbithi derives benefits from our environment. These are enhanced by our operational and other environmental management plans and our ethos of promoting biodiversity, which also benefits the wildlife for whom Simbithi is home.

The primary aim of our Landscaping Protocol is to ensure that all gardens are designed and maintained according to sound environmental principles,

encouraging the conservation and optimal biodiversity of flora to support locally indigenous wildlife. Our gardens are not only meant to provide a haven for us but also suitable habitats for our Simbithi wildlife. To this end only locally indigenous plants are on the approved plant list.

Established trees provide a source of food, protection and nesting sites for a variety of vertebrate and invertebrate wildlife, and ecological services to residents such as shade, heat reduction, decreased water usage, etc. The merits of each application by residents to remove or severely prune established trees and shrubs are carefully considered by the Environmental Department staff. The Environmental Committee and the majority of applications meet with a favourable response as they have a valid motivation.

“No mature locally indigenous shrubs and trees (over a height of 3m) may be severely pruned or removed without prior written permission from the Environmental Department of SEEHOA. In the case of protected tree species, the necessary permit

must also be obtained from the DAFF (Department of Agriculture, Forestry Fisheries.)”

Recently, we have noted several residents have severely pruned or removed mature trees or shrubs without obtaining prior written permission to do so. In some instances, permission was granted for specific trees to be pruned, but additional trees were pruned or removed. Residents, please remember that removing or severely pruning mature trees is a form of habitat destruction and to do so without permission renders you liable to a fine or other sanction.

No gardening or landscaping activities are allowed beyond the boundaries of any residential site without written permission from the Environmental Department of SEEHOA. This includes removal or pruning of any tree or shrub, planting of trees, shrubs or groundcovers, and the cutting or mowing of wild grass. Again, residents’ applications to do so are considered and, where appropriate, granted.

The Environmental department and residents have noted, with concern, increased browsing from our bushbuck, both in accessible buck-friendly gardens and Simbithi’s open spaces. While we have been removing as many bushbuck as possible during the past few years, logistically we have not managed to remove sufficient bushbuck and their numbers have increased. This, coupled with Winter and low rainfall over the past few months has contributed to the current situation. We are aware of the need to actively manage our wildlife populations and are endeavouring to reduce the current population of bushbuck to minimise the adverse effect of the increased high browse level on other wildlife, including birds and the protected blue duiker.

We only remove live bushbuck and are fortunate to have ethical and professional wildlife veterinarian, Ryan van Deventer, involved in this process. The gardens on Simbithi are meant to serve as a buffer for our wildlife and our landscaping protocols provide for corridors between 15

properties for wildlife movement and these are required to have 35% of “buck fodder plants”. Our approved plant list (here on the Simbithi website) denotes buck-friendly plants. We would like to appeal to residents and landscapers to assist by increasing the number of buck fodder plants in gardens and by planting shrubs or trees that are 1.5 metres: smaller plants are simply eaten and do not survive. Our protocols also state that garden fences should be screened on both sides with planting. Planting buck fodder plants on the inside of fences so that they provide fodder and are protected is an excellent way to do this.

Many residents readily identify and love the bushbuck that frequent their gardens. They have small day, and somewhat larger night, browsing home ranges but home ranges overlap. They are non-territorial, meaning that they do not fight to protect their home range. Ritualised displays when mature males meet and an age - based hierarchy make fighting unnecessary. Males fighting and injuring or killing each other is a sign of too many bushbuck. Bushbuck are polyganandrous: multiple males and females mate usually on a first come, first served basis. About 180 days later, a single calf is born and here on the Coast, they frequently have two calves within a 14 to 18 month period. The mothers hide their calves for the first four months, only coming to the calf to let it suckle and to clean the calvés excrement away by eating it.

Plant as many of the following plants to screen fences or to encourage bushbuck to visit your garden: Asystasia gangetica (Creeping Foxglove), Barleria obtusa (Blue Dune Barleria), Barleria repens (Creeping Red Barleria), Chlorophytum krookianum (Giant Chlorophytum), Hibuscus pedunculatis (Forest Pink Hibiscus), Justicia betonica (Paper Plume), Justicia capensis (Money Plant), Peristrophe cernua (Purple Acanth/False Buckwheat) and Thunbergia alata (Black-Eyed Susan), to mention just a few in addition to the three plants that you are encouraged to plant this Spring. 16