Below is a wildlife report from Lomond Wine Estate, compiled by Mike Fabricius of the Walker Bay Fynbos Conservancy:
Project Ingwe is a specific wildlife monitoring project aimed at creating an understanding of the larger mammal species occupying the Walker Bay region. Creating a baseline species list and localized distribution maps, we can monitor changes and trends over time. A good example of this would be the recent influx of African Bushpig. While they were known historically in the area, they were pushed out through land transformation and hunting.
Some suggest that bushpig have gone undetected for the last century, while some suggest a recent range expansion due to conservation corridor establishment, dense vegetation and a drop in hunting pressure. While this may be good news for the larger predators of the conservancy, it is important to monitor the occurrence and the potential for population explosion as has been noted in many wild pig species.
The project is conducted in a grid fashion, with a camera trap station near the center of each 5km2grid. A camera trap is a remote sensing monitoring tool that triggers when a subject moves within its detection range. It can be set to take videos, but in this case, the camera is set to take still images, with an incandescent flash used to illuminate the subject at night.
We have found that the flash does not disturb animals or deter them from the monitoring site. The cameras are set at about knee height on well used paths, in order to maximize potential for species detection. The grid allows for even spacing and variation in habitat types. Lomond as an example has two monitoring sites, one in a mountainous conservation servitude area (an area set aside by the landowners for conservation in perpetuity), and the other is in the middle of the vineyards and considered a modified agricultural zone. We have noted some interesting similarities and differences between these two sites. By analysing the data using statistical methods, we can answer many questions on where species occur. The below pictures were all captured in the mountainous servitude area of Lomond, made up of pristine natural vegetation.
The camera station in the vineyards, the center of an agricultural zone of the conservancy, has produced some interesting and rather different results as was expected. The species that overlap and occur in both pristine and agricultural environments include bushpig and common duiker.
We were delighted with a brand new species record for the conservancy, the Cape fox.
Other species that have been recorded in the agricultural zone include: Bat-eared fox, African wildcat, caracal, cape fox and scrub hare.
Many species are well adapted to the pristine and natural areas ecosystems, and others are better adapted in human-modified systems. Bat-eared fox is a good example of a species that prefers the softer soils that agricultural landscapes provide for foraging of insects and other invertebrates. This shows that while one of the major threats to our biodiversity is agricultural development, well established and ethically managed agricultural zones can facilitate a host of different species than what is found in pristine environments. It is vital for economic and ecotourism benefits that ethical agricultural practice remains in place, but this must be balanced with conservation, building corridors that link protected areas and allocating land for long term conservation management.
Learn more at Fynbos.co.za
