Bark Spider

Bark Spiders (Caerostris) contruct a large orb web at dusk, after first establishing a long bridge line. At dawn the orb web is destroyed and the spider retreats to a tree or bush on the bridge line.
This is the female of the species Caerostris sexcuspidata which is very common and widespread.

 


Spring Walk 2017

This year's spring walk on Meadowridge Common was held on Sunday 20 October in the early afternoon. Taking time off from his studies for his Ph.D.,Stuart Hall (centre) very kindly led the walk. Cape Town is in the grip of one of its worst droughts, but there were still many interesting flowers to see. The weather was overcast and even a bit drizzly,
but the sun came out from time to time to reveal flowers like this little sun-loving sporrie (Heliophila africana) - a member of the cabbage family or Brassicaceae -
and the abundant and floriferous Kusmalva (Pelargonium capitatum).
Yellow daisies (Ursinia anthemoides ) were flowering all over the Common,
and some interesting insect visitors put in an appearance as well. This is a Nomad (Sympetrum fonscolombii).
Stuart, pointing out one of the Common's specials - the Redlisted Lampranthus stenus - which doesn't flower at this time of the year, but it is still growing here despite all the trampling that occurs from humans and dogs.
A monkey beetle in the centre of the wild iris (Moraea fugax), several of which were in flower this afternoon. These flowers only last for one afternoon - and we all hoped the monkey beetle was pollinating the flower and not just eating it.  
Stuart demonstrating the tough and stringy the bark of Passerina corymbosa - a member of the Thymelaceae or Tie-me-laces family.
Cuttings from the original plant of Ruschia geminiflora yielded many more plants of this little succulent shrub that grows all over the Common and is flowering now.
The Common has two species of Struthiola - this one is S. ciliata and the other, a bigger shrub nearer the library building, is S. dodecandra. They are also members of the Thymelaceae family.
Albuca juncifolia or 'Sentry in a box".
Artist, Lyn Northam, photographing on of the Commons orchids - the sweet-smelling Satyrium odorum.
The other orchid that occurs here is Disa bracteata.
Rooikanol (Wachendorfia paniculata), a member of the bloodroot family, Haemodoraceae.
Another Common pelargonium - Pelargonium myrrhifolium.
The tiny, lacy flowers of Adenogramma glomerata carpet the sand between the daisies and grass.
Another of the Common's "specials" is the rare and endangered Cape Flats Silkypuff (Diastella proteoides). For more about this plant, click here.
And on most afternoons, the small flowers of Trachyandra revoluta open.
In the various wild storms that we have had this winter, seven of the Common's enormous pines blew down - and the evidence is still around. The City of Cape Town seems to be unable to muster the wherewithal to remove them.
Not flowering, but the presence of several seedlings of another of the Common's "specials", Erica subdivaricata, was an exciting find.
Treading carefully on the Common - as you never know what is underfoot.
Stuart with Fiona Watson who has painstakingly photographed and identified the plants that occur on Meadowridge Common - which amount to almost 140 species, not counting the aliens.

And its not only the flowers that are interesting. This is a nest of Community Nest Spiders that occur on the Common. Read more about them, and other spiders, here.
In the rehabilitation area of the Common several plants of Serruria glomerata are thriving. These are all grown from cuttings taken from other plants of this Cape Flats Sand Fynbos protea growing elsewhere on the Cape Peninsula. According to William Purcell's list of plants on the farm Bergvliet, they would have once grown here.
And finally, at the carpark, a bush of the Tortoise Bush (Muraltia spinosa also known as Nylandtia spinosa) with its spectacular fruit. These are edible and rich in Vitamin C - but taste very astringent.

Common spiders

Download a copy of this poster on Spiders on Meadowridge common here.

Meadowridge Common Annual Spring Walk

 
The Friends of Meadowridge Common's Annual Spring Walk will take place on Sunday 8 October at 14h00.
Stuart Hall, a botanist from the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology and Centre for Invasion Biology at Stellenbosch University, will lead the walk, which usually takes about an hour.
The meeting place will be on the gravel road that leads off Faraday Way towards the soccer fields on Meadowridge Common. Click here for directions.
The walk is free of charge and anyone is welcome to attend. 
For more information, phone Fiona Watson at 021 712 0696.

Garden Cities and the Common

Our latest poster on the history of Meadowridge Common will be placed on one of the storyboards on the common soon. To download a PDF of it, click here.

Dr Purcell and Bergvliet Farm

Our latest poster on the history of Meadowridge Common will be placed on one of the storyboards on the common soon. To download a PDF of it, click here.
Information was gleaned from many sources, including from a chapter on Bergvliet Farmhouse in the book The Great Houses of Constantia by Philippa Dane and Sydney-Anne Wallace (Don Nelson, 1981), click here to read the chapter online.

Cake Sale

At the Meadowridge Shopping Centre, Howard Drive, Meadowridge outside the CNA.
On Saturday 24 June from 9 am till 12 pm.
There will be lots of delicious homemade delicacies and preserves.
Come and support the Friends of Meadowridge Common who do such sterling work keeping the Common in shape.
Donations of cakes or other homemade edibles to the sale would also be greatly appreciated.
For information, contact the Chairman, Roger, at  021 715 9206.

Do we owe our existence to the Protea Atlas Project?

Almost twenty years ago, Esme Morris noticed a healthy Cape Flats Silkypuff (Diastella proteoides) shrub growing on the edge of Meadowridge Common. Recognizing it as a rare and threatened species*, she did a bit of research on the plant and alerted Tony Rebelo who was co-ordinating the impressive Protea Atlas Project that ran from 1991-2006 under the auspices of the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
This is the entry that appeared on the Protea Atlas website:
"Mrs Esme Morris discovered some plants of Diastella proteoides while on a walk in the Meadowridge Common. Not only did she correctly identify the plant, but she also dug out an article from the Constantiaberg Bulletin of October 1988, written by Grahame Wilson of the Constantia Captrust. It appears that in 1988 some plants of the Flats Silkypuff were protected by a few strands of barbed wire on the common off Faraday Drive and Schoolside. Today only three plants survive on the common, one of which has had a load of tar dumped on it.
"It is not easy to preserve our flora, especially when the plants are sprawling mats with flowers no bigger than a fingernail. It is only through getting the local people interested that we can conserve the indigenous flora on our commons. Perhaps we need a 'Friends of the Meadowridge Common!'" 

Luyanda Mjuleni and Esmé Morris on the Common, January 2017
"Flowers no bigger than a fingernail". The Cape Flats Silkypuff  (Diastella proteoides) on Meadowridge Common.
* Diastella proteoides is redlisted as CRITICALLY ENDANGERED in the 2017 Redlist of South African Plants. Click here to go the entry in the Redlist.

CAPE TOWN’S GROUNDWATER: IS IT AN OPTION FOR MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLY?

 As of today, Thursday 23 February 2017, Cape Town has 127 days worth of water left in its dams.* We seriously need to plan ahead as water shortages are only going to get worse. One option is the use of groundwater from aquifers that lie under our city. Come and listen to one of South Africa's groundwater experts, Dr Chris Hartnady, of Umvoto Africa, who is delivering the keynote talk at the AGM of the Friends of Meadowridge Common on Monday 27 February at 7h30 pm in the Meadowridge Library, Howard Drive, Meadowridge. (Click here for directions.) Dr Chris Hartnady will be giving an illustrated talk on
CAPE TOWN’S GROUNDWATER: IS IT AN OPTION FOR MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLY?
Chris was recently interviewed on Cape Talk by John Maythem, and appeared on Carte Blanche on the subject of Cape Town's water supply two weeks ago. Come and ask any questions you may have about water, well points and boreholes.
All welcome. No need to book. Refreshments will be served and secure parking provided.
For more information telephone the Chairman of the Friends of Meadowridge Common at 021 715 9206.   
 *Click here to go to the City of Cape Town's website for an update.
Photos courtesy of the City of Cape Town and Umvoto Africa.

THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE FRIENDS OF MEADOWRIDGE COMMON

will be held in the Meadowridge Library
on Monday 27th February 2017 at 7.30 pm
After the brief business part of the evening, DR CHRIS HARTNADY from Umvoto Africa will be giving an illustrated talk on
"CAPE TOWN’S GROUNDWATER: IS IT AN OPTION FOR MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLY?"
Chris was recently interviewed on Cape Talk by John Maythem, and last Sunday he appeared on Carte Blanche. Come and ask Chris any questions you may have about  well points and boreholes.
All welcome. Refreshments will be served and secure parking provided.
For more information telephone the Chairman at 021 715 9206.

Summer flowers on Meadowridge Common

The Branching Aristea (Aristea dichotoma) flowers on the Common from December till February, although recent thefts of this tough little bulb have reduced the population to virtually nothing. The flowers only last one day - opening in the morning and fading in the afternoon - the drying petals twisting into a spiral which you can see clearly in the photograph above.
Its leaves are tough, narrow and point upwards to avoid direct sunlight. Although the stems of this aristea are characteristically branching, the specimens on the common don't branch all that much. The flowers are about 15-20 cm high.  
Information from Fiona Watson, Cape Bulbs by John Manning and iSpot.