The Ingcungcu Sunbird Restoration project is spreading its wings, and the news about it, to link the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) with the Boland Mountains via a series of pollinator gardens that will act as stepping stones for migrating sunbirds and sugarbirds crossing the densely urbanised Cape Flats.
They did so in a presentation to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Society (BotSoc) at the Pearson House located in TMNP.
Ingcungcu is a Xhosa word meaning “long-billed bird”, or bird with a long beak.
Fellow members Ceinwen Smith and Joel Simons illustrated the vision, provided data and reported on progress made over the past few years of reintroducing this migration route.
Smith oversees all aspects of the organisation, while Simons coordinates and runs Ingcungcu’s School Eco Club Programme.
“We are reopening this route by planting gardens of carefully selected nectar-producing plants on strategically located school grounds where they act as ‘filling stations’ for birds.
This route is especially important when fires temporarily decimate the vegetation, forcing the birds to leave in search of nectar,” Smith explained.
Community and school gardens
This is done by connecting isolated patches of critically endangered lowland fynbos and reconnecting urban schools and communities to nature.
To date, the project has stretched this natural corridor across 14 gardens, eight of which are secured in schools and the others located at community spaces across the Cape Flats.
“We’ve established a number of gardens on the western side of the Cape Flats like Muizenberg, Retreat, Lavender Hill, connecting the Muizenberg Mountain to Rondevlei and Zandvlei, and the long-term vision is to reach all the way across to Stellenbosch on the right-hand side. As our tagline says, ‘connecting plants, trees and people’,” Smith added.
This work is based around three interconnected pillars of education, fynbos rehabilitation and research.
Immersive skills development
“Our work is facilitating hands-on learning, so really emphasising skill development during engaged, and immersive experiences. Planting fynbos gardens, to actively creating these stepping stone gardens and the research component. “And monitoring both the social and the ecological impacts of these spaces that we are creating.”
This is accomplished through two programmes, the current Eco Club schools programme as well as the Community Garden programme.
“We ran the Community Garden programme for several years which we also call the pollinator programme, which entails working with adults, community members with training and mentorship being the emphasis there to really create spaces for workshops where adults can learn more about fynbos and become public pollinators.”
These gardens support biodiversity, create learning spaces and create more access to natural spaces. Thanks to these programmes running together, Smith believes “we are inspiring biodiversity custodians both from the schools and the communities themselves”.
Eco Clubs and learners
Simons spoke about Ingcungcu’s impact on schools, saying there are currently Eco Clubs in six schools. For many kids, these clubs are their only interaction with nature.
Currently, they have enrolled in three high schools in Retreat, namely Sibelius, Crestway and Steenberg; as well as three primary schools: Floreat, Prince George and Harmony Primary School.
“They’re all in somewhat of a cluster, which is seen in the Steenberg area and just on the other side of the M5 and up in the hill. Over two years at these schools, we’ve worked with about 180 learners, we’ve done 120 workshops which take place on the school grounds, either in the classroom or in school gardens,” Simons shared.
In terms of research, he added that they have recently introduced an arrangement at each school where students are released from class once a month. “And then they come into the garden with me and do the monitoring with me to update the data sets for these gardens. So learning those skills is also a very nice way to connect the learners.”
Ten field trips have taken these learners to places like Kirstenbosch, Intaka Island, Rondevlei Nature Reserve and a few at Princess Vlei, in addition to two camps.
These efforts, confronted with realities during the Covid-19 pandemic, led to the creation of a Sunbird and Fynbos workbook for learners in collaboration with authors, and Princess Vlei Forum.
“We worked on a strategy document as part of Fynbos Corridor Collaboration that can be accessed on their website, along with a helpful interactive map which shows species lists by vegetation type,” said Smith.
“And then finally,” Smith said, “particularly through the Pollinating Pride in People programme we created this community of pollinators and entrepreneurs, along with community groups and civic groups.”
She illustrated their diverse revenue streams thanks to collaborations from various individuals and organisations sharing similar goals to help fund their efforts.
“Be it through art, exhibitions or events, our growth and sustainability is ensured by us wanting the same thing for our city and our people.”
- Learn more about the project here
