Palmiet News

Jean Senogles invited me to accompany herself and Nick Evans on a chameleon hunt this evening.The entrance area to the Palmiet was literally crawling with the creatures. After counting fifty we gave up. Nick pointed out pregnant mothers with the eggs clearly visible and the numerous babies clinging on to grass stalks. A red lipped Herald snake did a slithering act into a tiny crevice in the thatched info hut.

On Friday night 5 March my two friends and I went on a walk in the Palmiet at 8pm. At the first turn off after the first river crossing we found a Kwa-Zulu Natal dwarf Chameleon. It was quiet high on a twig. The only way we saw it was because at night, when you shine a torch on a chameleon it glows a luminoius white colour. Further on, we spotted a Red lipped Herald about15cm.in length. We also saw a lot of big Garbage Line spiders in their huge webs. While we were crossing the river, we saw a big Fishing spider catch and eat a small fish! Back at the hut by the entrance, we saw about 15 Platanna's (a type of frog) in the pond next to the hut. We also saw a whole lot of river frogs in the pond and on the river.

March 2010
Hi my name is Nick Evans, I am 16 years old. I have been going to Palmiet Nature Reserve for four years. I go there to study and photograph snakes, scorpions, spiders, monitor lizards, birds and wildflowers. Last Friday I got permission from Jean.Senogles for my friends and I to sleep over in the reserve. The main reason for doing this was to see what kind of animals come out at night. Mrs. Senogles asked me to look out for bushbabies. We got there at about 5pm and walked about 100m down river from the Cascades until we found a nice big flat rock where we could sleep. We made a small fire right next to a small waterfall. At about 8:30pm we went for a walk on the path near the Cascades. We saw lots of river frogs, long jawed water spiders, fishing spiders, and a water scorpion. On the path we found a stick insect which was about a foot long (30cm) and a huge Rain spider on a tree. At 2:30 in the morning, just before going to sleep, we decided to have one last look for bushbabies. We shone our spotlight on trees nearby and saw a pair of big red eyes! Then while we were looking at it two more pairs of eyes appeared, then two more! There were 5 bush babies altogether in one tree making a big noise. They continued making a noise throughout the early morning. We woke up at half past 6 and went for a short river walk, seeing more river frogs and water monitor tracks. After that we left and went home.

Prof Steven Piper spent over 30 years researching wagtails in the Palmiet.Many people remember this beret wearing character wondering along the river with his nets and ringing gear. Steven passed away suddenly this year after semi retiring to the Berg where he lead specialized bird trails. It was only fitting therefore that he be permanently honored and remembered in the Palmiet Reserve. On 26 Dec family and friends gathered and Stevens ashes were placed together with two indigenous trees that his wife planted in the reserve. A special bench was also installed near the entrance and the Umvemve trail was renamed the Steven Piper Umvemve Trail in his honor.

The eThekwini Municipality’s Coastal, Stormwater and Catchment
Management Department (CSCMD) has identified a section of the
Palmiet River in Pinetown that is technically suitable for
the establishment of an off-stream temporary storage facility that will
assist in the attenuation of downstream flood waters of the Palmiet
River system Full Details

All wildlife has gone haywire; e.g. I haven't seen a single leopard moth this summer – cycads look wonderful, those that have new leaves, others just starting this late in the season. Our bandit mongoose pack has just presented us with a second litter – FIFTEEN babies to add to the seven produced in spring which means a band that was seven strong a couple of years ago has now mushroomed to over thirty hungry, destructive , noisy animals. Today we had the large troop of monkeys and the mongies together playing with each other on the lawn – I wish I had a digital video camera; it was something to marvel at! The Alpha females of both species must be doing a good job or maybe we just feed them too much?

Jan 2009 Not even the Palmiet signs are safe from the local graffiti artists . Maybe the Metro Coucil will send their crack clean up team here as well.

Although advertised in the Highway Mail only four people pitched up on 31 Jan to clean the Palmiet river at the main entrance.The thin green line gets ever thinner!

New Bird Sighting I have seen a bird in my garden that is not on your list for the Palmiet namely #565 Bush Blackcap ( Lioptilus nigricapillus ). I first saw one in October 2007 (a few times over a number of days) and then not again until last week (20 Jan 2009) when I saw a specimen a couple of times within an hour or two. I have not seen one since. I don't think I heard it at all. It was quite tame and flew from bush to bush without showing much nervousness or fear. It finally disappeared towards the river through a neighbour's garden. Warren Friedman.

Roy P 30 Jan 2009
Rob Scott, Derick and I were very lucky to see Wahlberg's Eagle, Black-shouldered Kite., YBK and Eagle which we could not ID whilst walking in the proposed new section of Roosfontein. The one that interests me is the sighting of the Crown Hawk Eagle as according to Roberts this bird is not found beyond 40 degrees South. But who knows. I walked through Gwalagwala last Sunday was most interesting with 50 species being logged in three hours. Roy P

July 2008. A few days ago I saw a crowned eagle fly over with what looked like a poodle in its talons!!!! This is the second time I've noticed a small dog as prey, the previous time being a couple of years ago.

Also a couple of weeks ago a pair of eagles swooped down across our little lawn and tried to nab a banded mongoose or two from the resident pack which were sunning on the grass. They missed completely as the mammals scattered into the hedgerow while the dinosaurs crashed into the shrubbery only to emerge sheepishly after extricating themselves from the bush and after preening themselves for a few minutes flew off with empty talons. The mongooses muttered and complained from the cover of the plants for a while and then came for a dinner of Catmor kibbles and a cut up bar-one! The eagles haven't tried again here as far as I know!

We did see the same pair of birds (an adult and a juvenile) catch and eat a young dassie that had emerged from the storm water drain in Stanley Teale Road a few months ago. The hyraxes weren't seen there again for about a month but are back, stretched out across the warm tar, looking like rocks in the road!

About a year ago a crowned eagle was successful here when it caught a slender mongoose in our driveway. The bird first landed right above me in a tree while it killed the poor animal then it flew off to enjoy its meal, or feed its young.

We removed a couple of bags of broken glass from along “Mike's Path” yesterday; there is a lot of rubbish that has been thrown down from above. I think it is from the same house from which the prickly pear has escaped into the reserve. S Friedman

May 2007 The Metro is being re-structured. In future S Butler will be responsible for the natural areas in the entire Umgeni catchment from the sea to Cato Ridge. He will set up an office with a phone at the Frank Farrer Hall by altering an under-utilised part of the building and someone will be appointed to supervise the Palmiet area, under the guidance of S Butler . 4 workers will be assigned who will mainly work in the PNR. It seems that conservation, environmental matters and sustainable development are being taken more seriously

After campaigning for 4 years with the then Westville Municipality, the PNR officially opened in 1972 with the land-use classification of a Public Open Space. In December 1992 Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife declared the PNR a Site of Conservation Significance. The present enhanced status is thus a culmination 38 years of securing the adequate conservation of this area.

The good news is that, on 1st June 2006, Palmiet Nature Reserve was officially proclaimed a Nature Reserve, ie a protected area in terms of the KZN Nature Conservation Management Act, by the KwaZulu-Natal Province. This concludes a process which commenced in 1989. The Manager, Steve Butler, is thanked for his tireless work in securing this enhanced protection status for the PNR, which is the only Municipal Reserve in eThekwini to have this proclamation.

Disabled Trail: first phase completed
Feral Cats: Ongoing problem.
Dogs: Any dogs found wondering in the Reserve will be shot on sight.
Woolly necked storks have been observed in the Reserve.
Flood Line: All residents included in the 100 yr. flood line have been notified.
Archaeological site: Funding to be applied for for an educational hands on site.

The trail for the disabled was built by the local Lions organisation giving up their Saturdays to mix and carry concrete.

I Spotted this juvinile raptor on 7 Dec 2004 in my garden overlooking the Palmiet. Unsure of its ID I put the word out to Albizia Place and here are some of the responces Clive Read

Hi Clive

The bird is almost certainly an immature crowned eagle - noting the scaled appearance of the feathers and grey head, yellow gape. This bird was following its parents around last week in the cascade area as they shadowed the vervets. Unfortunately they were relentlessly mobbed by kites and crows leading the juvenile to seek shelter in an Albizia right next to our kitchen. At one stage we counted 13 kites and 11 crows simultaneously stooping on the poor guy which naturally ruined any chance of a succesful vervet monkey hunt - this went on for hours. I hope it was able to feed but with that attention it didn't look good at all. Two weeks back there were a pair of Wahlberg eagles in the valley as well as mystery raptor that I could not identify despite having bino's to hand - the only bird that fitted was the migratory lesser spotted eagle which is not supposed to occur here - but maybe no-one told it! cheers Rory

Hi Clive,

I know this immature Crowned Eagle quite well as s/he has visited about 3 times in the past week, twice being severely harassed by the Yellow Billed Kites and Pied Crows - s/he had to take refuge in thick cover. The monkeys were also attempting to beat it around the head! Note the yellow feeding gape is still quite prominent so it is only recently 'doing its own thing.' I think your cat is reasonably safe unless the bird is starving. Our IT specialist had an African Goshawk catch, kill and eat a budgie through the bars of its cage recently when they put the cage out in their garden.You are so right - it is a precious privilege to have these birds in our area. I was able to watch an African Cuckoo Hawk devouring a chameleon for about 20 minutes last week as well - and they are very rarely seen! Lesley