006 Photograph by Lorinda

005 Photograph by Lorinda

004 Letter to the Blaauwberg Conservation Department

The following letter was sent to some conservation personnel in the area.   Perhaps it is already too late to do something this year.
We had one of the hottest days, in Cape Town, that I can remember.
As I write this; people must be storming the beach to cool down.

THE LETTER

Would you kindly pass this email on to the person concerned?

Last Saturday I noticed that the Oystercatchers are breeding again, halfway between Big Bay and Horse Trails.

There is only one pair that uses this beach for breeding.  They have been breeding there for a very long time. (I guess over 10 years).

Last year their nest got trampled by walkers and dogs.   They got chased by dogs and people picnicked near their nest.

Is there not something you can do to protect their nests over weekends and high tide times?

When a foreign boat goes aground we are flooded by people standing around to protect it.

The least we can do is to try and help these birds to get their chicks hatched and raised.

We should be proud of them.

I hope someone can find a solution as last year their attempt to nest failed.  They only have one attempt to breed per season.

I do not know if they are still around, because I tried to phone BCA on several occasions but could not get through.

 Yours faithfully,

R W

003 Oystercatcher on the nest - Summer of 2010

Another attempt to breed at Ploverbeach - Near Big Bay, Cape.

She is not in a good condition.  She seem to have bold patches  where she lost feathers.

002 Bird Breeding time 2010

It is the summer of 2009-10 and the Oystercatchers of Ploverbeach (between The Horse trails and Blouberg Strand) are trying to breed again.

The year before last they hatched two chicks of which one survived.
Last year dogs and people trampled over their nest and they lost their eggs.
They remained on the beach for a long time afterward but they never attempted to breed again.  I do not think they got the opportunity.

I fear that it will be the same this year.
The strip where they can hatch their chick is becoming very narrow.

If only the conservation department can value the few birds still breading along this nature strip like they value the cargo of foreign vessels.

If a boat goes to ground on the beach, they will have people watching it day and night.

It is sad that they can not stop people walking over the nest during weekends and high tide times when the Oystercatcher is breeding and their nest is in the way of the beach traffic.

It is not only dogs and people who are a threat to these birds breading, on this beach, but beach cleaners who like to scratch through the flotsam and jetsam above the high tide level and the beach patrol who rides unperturbed wherever they want.  (I have not seen them in action, but I know human nature.   Very little education and attention is given to the beach birds)

It is difficult, but not impossible, to protect these birds during the breeding season. 
One can not even put a sign out that these birds are breeding because it may just attract the attention of some hungry person looking for bush meat for the pot or some foreigner who would consider Oystercatcher meat as a delicacy.   The world is so sick, nothing is sacred anymore.

Their only protection is:
That most of the people using this beach do not even notice the birds.
The South Easter wind (The Cape Doctor).   Here at Blouberg, one can give the wind the name of the ‘beach-breeding-bird midwife’.    It is only bad weather that keeps people away from the beach.

001 ABOUT

We decided to separate our Oystercatcher posts from our Plover posts.   They both share the same beaches and the same fate; that of facing extinction on the stretch of beach between Cape Town and Melkbosstrand.

We can not stop progress, but we can record their last fight for survival in Cape Town.


 Years ago I picked up an Oystercatcher egg on the beach.  I took it home, never thinking how precious that egg was to the bird.  I never even saw the Oystercatchers; neither would I have recognized them.  In those days my classification of birds was: large white, small black, little gray........

Most people using our beaches today are still ignorant about our precious feathered beach dwellers.   They do not even notice them when they picnic on the bird nests.

We shall search our photo database for photographs of Oystercatchers and post the old photographs alongside newer ones.