October newsletter published

The latest newsletter has been published here.

Four Peaks overnight hike in August

Over the August holidays, Fraser, Helen and Nick Moore did the Four Peaks hike with Jimmy Whatmore.  As a twist on an old favourite walk, we slept out in the mountains mid way on the hike.  To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this has been done at Finsbury.

Carrying overnight gear - tent, sleeping bag, clothes for mid-winter, food, etc - is a different proposition than a day hike and we all had heavy packs.  While Nick's pack was filled with tent, warm clothes and spare water, Jimmy's was largely made up of lots of delicacies to eat.  At the last minute, Jimmy decided actually to bring a sleeping bag which was a blessing since even with the bag, Jimmy froze solid overnight.

Still, great fun was had by all and our intention is to do a repeat performance at some point over the Christmas holidays (weather dependent of course).

A gallery of images can be seen here.

Nick

Chairman's Report for the AGM

The Chairman's Report for the year end June 2013 can be viewed here.

Keeping up to date with Finsbury news

Just a reminder that there are 3 ways that you can use this blog to keep up to date with current news from Finsbury.

1. Receive emails when the blog has been updated.  You sign up for these emails on the 'Blog Home' tab.  On the lower part of the right hand bar enter your email address in the box entitled 'Follow by email'.  Each day there is a new post you will receive an email.
2. Use a 'feed' reader such as feedly.  If you already use RSS feeds then you can get the details of the feed from the 'Subscribe to Finsbury news' links, again on the lower right hand bar of the 'Blog Home' tab.  
3. Visit the blog from time to time.  We will try to post new material as often as possible, so if you don't want to use either of the methods above, please just check the blog for updates every couple of weeks.

If you have any suggestions or requests, please comment below.

Nick

Cool reptiles on Finsbury Estate

I've been a reptile fan for some time and have the gumption to say I've caught and picked up very many of our reptiles, including Anchietes Dwarf Python and Angola File Snake. In the short time I've been at Finsbury I've added some power sightings to my list. These photos include two very different colour forms of a Berg Adder (hopefully updates will be forthcoming) and a very fortuitous sighting of a Beyer's Long-tailed Seps with the Moore family on a 4 peaks hike. The last is a photo of a Large-scaled Grass Lizard encountered on a recent hike with Rob to the Haartebees Vlakte. The latter two are legless (or almost at least) lizards. None of them common sightings, according to the limited research I have conducted. Exciting stuff! Finsbury keeps on delivering!

Natural art worth seeing from SPK12

While the AIPE team were busy on the Spekboom River, I spotted something worth seeing. Rob cleaned up the area and cut back a lot of reeds and exposed this magnificent specimen of a Red-leaved Rock Fig (Ficus ingens) that seems to occur on all north facing cliffs on the estate. I struggled to identify it simply because the specific name, "ingens", means "enormous" and none of them are here. They do get rather big in the Lowveld. Take a walk in the morning (good sun angle) to the SPK12 sign at the weir and look to the cliff wall opposite you. It is a work of art. It is not a Tree Mural, it's a Mural Tree. Imagine having one of these on your lounge wall! Sublime, what?

Brewery Walk - 16 June 2013

It was a great day after a very chilly start, with about 18 walkers following a route skirting Mount Anderson.

 

 

Photo's by Alistair Starker

 

Alien Invasive Plant Eradication Update

 

During the coldest months our activities, as the AIPE Team, have been limited as the target species have been dormant, so the use of herbicide has not been possible. We, therefore, concentrated on mechanically removing as much wattle as possible from the riparian areas of the Estate. We are happy to report that we removed close on 200 000 wattles during this time from seedlings to trees up to 3,5m in height

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About 2 weeks ago I noticed the leaves on some of the wattle trees beginning to open, indicating that they are becoming active again. I immediately moved the team to our boundary with Whiskey Creek in the Majubane gorge. Those of you familiar with the Majubane gorge will know that the last 2 kilometres before the waterfall are cluttered with massive (up to 20m tall), felled wattles. These trees grow in height too quickly searching for enough light. This growth is so rapid that their roots do not establish themselves quickly enough and the tree simply topples over, cluttering up the gorge.

This is not only aesthetically unpleasing but also a hazard to infrastructure during floods. We have thus decided to remove the timber which is a massive undertaking since it will have to be accomplished by hand.

Anyway, we have started at this point and will move downstream eradicating all alien species in our path. I have, and will continue to demarcate the areas we are busy in with danger tape. If you encounter this barrier please feel welcome to see how we are doing or feel free to pass through. Just remember to be aware of falling trees and remember we are using herbicide in these areas.

May newsletter published

Rob has published an update on the projects underway at Finsbury in the latest newsletter here.

Alien Invasive Plant eradication program is under way

After a few months of Jimmy Whatmore walking Finsbury flat assessing the problem, work has now commenced on the removal of alien plants.  Rob and Jimmy brought a small team on board to start with pulling wattle.  Unfortunately the first crew only lasted a couple of days before concluding that this was too much like hard work.  As you'll see from the photos below, it certainly involves some back-breaking work pulling the saplings as well as scrambling on hands and knees through dense bush.  To help with the problem, Jimmy enlisted some child labour from U22...!

I am sure Rob will have lots more to report over time.  This will be long and hard process - indeed an ongoing process over many years.  But it is great news that the process of removal has begun again in a concerted and systematic way.

Management house renovations under way!

Work commenced on the management house last week and it already appears as if there is not much left of the house...!

First newsletter for 2013 published

Our first newsletter for many years has just been published.  You should have received it by now via email, but if not, you can view or download it from here.  Our intention is to publish newsletters quarterly in future.  Please feel free to email any information you would like published to Annie Mackenzie on anniemac@sai.co.za.

Enjoy!

Goudkoppie walk

Over the December holidays a number of shareholders did a family walk to Goudkoppie and all along the northern Kliprots plateau to Mt Kliprots.  The farm was looking stunning after plenty of rain and with the dappled light.

Visit the gallery on Nick Moore's website here.

Finsbury Estate blog introduced

This blog site has been created to enable news from Finsbury to be shared with members on a more dynamic basis.  We'll be posting updates on everything from flood rehabilitation to wildlife sightings and, of course, the status of our fishing.  Please feel free to add comments or to email Rob or Yvette if you have information that might be useful to include in a post.

Please check in regularly or you can subscribe to email updates by entering your email address under 'Follow by Email' on the lower right hand side (you'll receive an email if there are any new posts).  (If you use RSS feeds to keep up to date with news on the web, use the drop down on the right under 'Subscribe to Finsbury News' to subscribe.)

Enjoy!