Arriving on Ploverbeach, via Horse Trails.

We met a very friendly man and six  friendly dogs coming up the path from Horse Trails.

Robben Island can be seen in the back ground.

footprints remain as silent witnesses

Photograph: Footprints of plover and dog crossing paths.




25-07-2009

We only saw one pair of Plovers on the beach today.
I could hear some alarm calls from the nearby vegetation.
Their footprints remain as silent witnesses of the confrontation between these little birds and other beach goers.

This is the information board at the entrance of "Horse Trails" which is the main entrance to Ploverbeach.

There is no mention of the Plovers and Oystercatchers that lives on this beach.

Plovers breeding on Ploverbeach

The Plovers managed to hatch chicks in spite of people and dogs trampling over their nesting area.

No time for the Oystercatchers

09 56am Oystercatchers try to outrun the oncoming traffic.

09 58am The beach belongs to people and dogs.

12 May 2009 Plover Beach (Horse trails)

I spotted six Plovers today. On my last visit I counted nine between the Horse trails and the drum.

This pair was to be disturbed by pedestrians with a dog.



This plover managed to feed briefly before being chased by passers-by.

KelpGull catching a crab

These photographs of a Kelp Gull catching a crab was taken near the Horse Trail entrance on Ploverbeach.

homeless man

22-01-2009

I observed the stress of the Plover who had a nest just below where this man slept.
I have often seen people settling to sunbathe on top of a Plover breeding site.

Predators among the Plovers

Plover beach, between Big Bay and the Horse Trails.

Dog sniffing a Plover chick dropped by the crow. The crow possibly found the chick after it was disturbed from it's camouflaged place of hiding.

Sensitive beach cleanup

We should consider that Plovers breed in the same area where the sea spews out the rubbish.
Sensitivity is needed when beaches are being cleaned up.

Protection for vessel in trouble

09-08-2008

This morning we decided to visit Kreefte-baai where two fishing trawlers ran aground.

I was also interested to see if there were plovers at that beach.

The nature conservation department was out in full force protecting the vessels and the dunes. It is amazing how quick they can protect something that they perceive to be worth protecting.

It is a pity they do not perceive the Plovers and Oystercatchers to be worth protecting.

If only they would apply the same temporary protection measures to the bird breeding area.

The pebbly area above the high water mark is getting so narrow, due to the dune stabilization that is happening along this whole stretch of coast.

For this reason, it is more of a pity that this small area is not given to the birds for as long as it is suitable breeding ground.

Soon the sand will cover these pebbles also and it will become another dead suburban beach.

It is a pity we cannot protect the few breeding birds along the Blouberg coast.

These birds are suffering in silence and the majority of beach goers will not even miss them when they are gone.

07-08-2008 Vanishing territory

7-08-2008

Big Bay (Horse Trails)

(1/4 Moon tide - in-between tides (10 am. The low tide was at 7 am)

It is a sunny, warm and windless morning here on Blouberg Beach between the Horse Trails and the old drum.

It was not my intention to spend much time with the plovers today. There is not much more I can write about them, I thought. What needed to be written is done, I argued in my mind.

Habits persist, however. My eyes scanned the high tide mark. This is where they normally breed and hide from predators.

Immediately the narrowness of the plover area becomes evident. Before the dune stabilization was introduced, the high tide area stretched far out towards the road. Now the highest waves hits against the dunes, which developed because of the vegetation introduced by conservation efforts.

The area between Horse Trails and BCA already eroded the high tide mark, where the plovers like to be. The high tide now hits against a wall of sand created by a dune stabilization programme.

The same is happening between Big Bay and Horse Trails.

The plover habitat is between the Horse Trails and the old drum (halfway mark). They were behaving as if a female was breeding somewhere. Their colors are very light, and they are unusually camouflaged today.

Their three toed footprints are evidence of the areas they frequent, the narrow strip flotsam beyond the high tide mark.

I do not even know if it is possible for these twelve pair of plovers to be saved.

There are a few things that can be done to extend their existence a bit longer if we have a conservation group that regards them as worth conserving.

Possible solutions can be:

The Horse trail has a double entrance to the beach. Removing the one closer to Blouberg will stop people taking a shortcut over the dune and right over the plover-breeding zone.

Use the wooden fence around the footpath, to cordon off some of the plover territories.

Use notifications advising people to stay clear of these areas.

These fences may have to be shifted or will disappear under the sand, but it is at least doing something.

Microchip some of the plovers to study their movements when this area becomes too unfriendly.

Before I close this blog, I will have to write a few letters of appeal on behalf of these little birds, but I am not very hopeful.

Introduction to this blog

It was not the plovers that I noticed when I became aware of the plight of coastal birds along this stretch of wild coast that was opened for public recreation.

Within a very short time this quiet beach turned into a major destination for sunbathers, people walking their dogs and fossil collectors.

When the decision was made to turn a major beach, Big Bay, into a high-rise concrete jungle, the closure of the most popular beach along Marine Drive, forced people in search for beach recreation further up the coast. This action caused a major disturbance to sea birds and animals that previously, nearly exclusively, used this section of the shoreline as their territory.

The beach that was previously interrupted occasionally by humans, nearly overnight became a popular resort.

Although this is a popular beach for water sport, the water is mostly too cold for bathers without wet suits. Blouberg also used to be very windy, however the weather also, seems to have changed.

The only people who used this beach were the white-mussel collectors.

That activity in itself added to the food supply for the sea birds.

Today there is no place for birds who rely on the beach for breeding and food. As the beach traffic increases daily, when more and more people move into newly built dwellings, the birds are pushed farther and farther away from their food source and the area that they need for nesting and camouflage.

What will happen to these little birds?

My guess is that their inability to breed and feed regularly will eventually lead to their extinction on this shoreline. Perhaps this is inevitable. They have no bank balance, so they have no right to be here according to human law.

Here, at Blouberg, they remain silent witnesses of how the habits of man impact on nature, without we even being aware of it.

Not even the dogs notice these shy, brave little birds; The beach plovers.

The Oystercatcher suffers the same fate, but they are bigger and quicker on the wing.

When they no longer visit an area, one knows about it. They are visible. Bird lovers miss their disappearances. Yet no-one knows or cares about the plovers. One cannot miss something that never existed.

These feathered, camouflaged, beach dwellers struggle on long after the Oystercatchers left to look for better breeding ground.

The intention of this website is to make people aware of the plight of sea birds, to make them visible.

Doing that I may save a nest, or I may hasten their extinction. At least, hopefully, they will be missed by someone when they are gone. Once you see them and become aware of their existence, one cannot help falling in love with them. They are so special, so vulnerable, so quietly invisible ... like the thoughts in your mind or the feelings in your heart - invisible to the human eye. It is a rare treat to spot one.

They survived this long because no one notice them.

However, at Blouberg, it is because no one knows that they are there that they walk over their breeding ground and that they are driven from their food supply.

It is my hope that people will respect these birds, and perhaps develops a group of local residents who will become the friends or guardians of the plovers between Blouberg and the BCA

Perhaps some school child will take this topic on as a school project. Perhaps then, we will miss them when they are gone.

Perhaps then we can feel sad because Blouberg lost its virginity to the rape by progress.

(The beach in question is the stretch of beach between Big Bay (Blouberg Strand) and the BCA (Blouberg Conservation Area), with a central (temporary) legal access to the beach at "The Horse Trails." There are also many unofficial access routes through the protected nature area.)

R W