Meadowridge Common

How you can join the CREW and learn more about our rare and endangered plants

The Friends of Meadowridge Common will be holding their AGM for 2015 on Wednesday 25 February in the community hall of the Meadowridge Library (click here for map) at 7h30 pm. The guest speaker will be Ismail Ebrahim of the South African National Biodiversity Institute's Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW) programme. CREW involves volunteers from the public in the monitoring and conservation of South Africa's threatened plants. Anyone can get involved - and CREW provides general plant identification courses as well as field training - so come along to the AGM and find out more. The programme is a partnership between SANBI and the Botanical Society of South Africa (BotSoc). For more information on CREW, click here.

Meadowridge Common has many of its own rare and endangered plants, and Fiona Watson, the Friend's Botanical Officer, will also be giving an update on the flora of Meadowridge Common.

Refreshments will be served and secure parking provided.

Please phone Fiona Watson at 021 712 0696 for more information.

The Flats Silkypuff, (Diastella proteoides) on Meadowridge Common. This species was probably common and widespread, but it is now restricted to a few remnant patches of lowland fynbos. See Red List.

Meadowridge Common Bird List

Black-headed Heron

African Dusky Flycatcher Muscicapa adusta

African Goshawk Accipiter tachiro

African Harrier Hawk (Gymnogene) Polyboroides typus

Black Kite Milvus migrans

Black Sparrowhawk Accipiter melanoleucus

Black-headed Heron Ardea melanocephala

Bokmakierie Telophorus zeylonus

Cape Bulbul Pycnonotus capensis

Cape Canary Serinus canicollis

Cape Turtle Dove/Ring-necked dove Streptopelia capicola

Cape White-eye Zosterops virens

Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis

Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs

Common Fiscal Lanius collaris

Common (European) Starling Sturnus vulgaris

Egyptian Goose Alopochen aegyptiaca

Hadeda Ibis Bostrychia hagedash

Fork-tailed Drongo Dicrurus adsimilis ssp. adsimilis

Hartlaub’s Gull Chroicocephalus hartlaubii

Helmeted Guineafowl Numida meleagris

Klaas's Cuckoo Chrysococcyx klaas

Laughing Dove Spilopelia senegalensis

Little Swift Apus affinis

Olive Thrush Turdus olivaceus

Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus

Pied Crow Corvus albus

Red-eyed Dove Streptopelia semitorquata

Red-winged Starling Onychognathus morio

Rufous-breasted Sparrowhawk Accipiter rufiventris

Sacred Ibis Threskiornis aethiopicus

Southern Double-collared Sunbird Cinnyris chalybeus

Speckled Pigeon Columba guinea

Spotted Thick-knee (Dikkop) Burhinus capensis

Spotted Eagle Owl Bubo africanus

Swee Waxbill Coccopygia melanotis

White-backed Mousebird Colius colius

White-necked Raven Corvus albicollis

Yellow-billed Kite Milvus aegyptius

Help us grow this list. Share your bird-sightings on the Common on the Facebook page, or iNaturalist or contact the Friends of Meadowridge Common at Meadowridgefriend@gmail.com.

Birds of Meadowridge Common

Helmeted Guineafowl.

Sacred Ibis and Cattle Egrets.

Black-headed Heron. Photo: John Rayner.

Bokmakierie visiting the tennis club that abuts on the Common.

Spotted Dikkop (or Thick-knee) - with two chicks - hiding.

Common Fiscal on the tennis court fence.

Egyptian Geese in the rehabilitation area of the Common.

Pied Crow

White-necked Raven.

Spotted Eagle-owl.

To see the birdlist for Meadowridge Common, click here.

We would be most grateful if you could share your bird-sightings on the Common on the Facebook page, iSpot or contact the Friends of Meadowridge Common at Meadowridgefriend@gmail.com. You could also post on the ADU site "My Bird Patch" - http://mybirdpatch.adu.org.za. The Common (including the football fields) is already on the site. MyBirdPatch is a way to collect bird information for small patches that are regularly visited by observers. It would be great to use this as a way for people to log their sightings. They will need to register as an observer with the project but can then add sightings for the common and any other public patches that have been registered. To register as an observer click on 'Register' and to find out more about how MyBirdPatch works click on 'Help" and download the "20 easy steps to getting started" document.

The Richtersveld - an illustrated talk

The Friends of the Meadowridge Common invite all to a talk on the Richtersveld by Michael Borgstrom, a local resident who has a keen interest in the flora of that region and has visited there many times. He will present his experiences there, illustrated with slides. The evening will be held at the Meadowridge Library on 20^th October at 7.30 and there will be secure parking.
Fay Howa, the Common's Conservation Officer, will also present a short, illustrated account of her programme for schools to learn about Leopard toads in the environment.
The talk is free, but non-members will be asked for a donation towards the Friends of Meadowridge Common. Contact Fiona Watson at 021 712 0696 for information.

Spring Flower Walk on the Common

Marigold (Ursinia anthemoides).

Our annual Spring Flower Walk was held on Meadowridge Common on Saturday 20 September 2014.

Leading the group of over 30 visitors, was Stuart Hall, a Botany graduate from UCT,

and Olwen Gibson, a retired teacher and Kirstenbosch tour guide.

On the adjacent soccer fields, the Meadowridge Football Club teams were battling it out,

while the walkers were shown some of the floral -

and faunal - treasures to be found on the Common.

The 'flagship species' of the Common is the Rare and Endangered Cape Flats Silkypuff (Diastella proteoides).

The Friends of Meadowridge Common noticed an unusual succulent plant growing on the Common recently - and Roger Graham, Chairman of the Friends, put it on iSpot to see what it could possibly be. Almost immediately botanist Nick Helme had the answer - Conicosia pugioniformis subsp. pugioniformis. It has a variety of common names including Clock Plant, Hat Fig, Snotwortel, Varkslaai and Varkwortel. According to succulent expert, Prix Burgoyne, the three subspecies of C. pugioniformis can be distinguished by their distribution. Subsp. alborosea is from Namaqualand, subsp. muiri is from the southern Cape to about Hummansdorp and subsp.pugioniformis is from the Cape Peninsula northwards to about Vredendal. We are looking forward to seeing if it flowers this spring. This plant had been previously recorded by Fiona Watson in her comprehensive list of plants on Meadowridge Common.

Cleaning up the Common

On Saturday morning, 15 March, several Friends of Meadowridge Common and some guests, met to weed, trim, prune and generally clean up Meadowridge Common. It was also great to meet the new Biodiversity Consultant, Fay Howa, from City Parks, who will be helping to manage our precious remnant of Cape Flats Sand Fynbos.