Felled trees shock Seatides residents

Seatides and Westbrook residents’ weekend picnic spot and home to Masked Weavers and other bird families was invaded by bush knives and chainsaws last Tuesday, February 24.

Distraught residents contacted the Courier on the Wednesday morning, because all the Casuarina trees at the corner of the M43 and M4 next to the traffic circle had been cut down, leaving nests and chicks scattered on the ground.

“We saw some bird nests lying on the ground between the chopped down trees on Tuesday afternoon, so we stopped to check them and only then realised how many nests there were,” said Kerry Strachan.

“My son, Seth, and I started collecting the nests, which had chicks inside them, but sadly there were lots and lots of dead birds in the nests,” she said.

They brought the survivors to Karen Zastron, who acts as the local mother of orphaned animals.

“I started with 26 chicks, but only ten have survived so far,” said Zastron.

She has six weaver babies left of about two weeks old and four bronze mannikins which probably hatched on the day the trees were hacked down.

“I feed the little ones every two to three hours, starting at 4.30am,” she said.

The reason for this destruction, was that the Casuarina trees had to go, because they are alien plants.

“The department of fishing and forestry served a notice to get rid of all Casuarinas, because they are a category one alien invader,” said Stuart Whittaker, who is the owner of the land opposite the Telkom Exchange in Westgate Road at the southern entrance to Westbrook.

Whittaker said he had done research regarding the nesting period of the weavers which lived in the trees and according to his research, their nesting time should have ended in January.

“I am sorry, I did not know they were still nesting.”

Whittaker will be tending to the area for the next 12 months.

Councillor Geoff Pullan said: “When Stuart’s plot was cleared some years ago, the disturbance of the soil had made it a veritable nursery for young Casuarina trees. He sought permission to remove the Casuarinas from the department of transport’s land near the M4, to which they agreed, as long as it was at his own expense.”

“I attended the initial meeting with the department of forestry’s official and asked that Ramu Govender from our parks department, be involved with the replacement of the alien trees with acceptable ones. I suggested that Stuart remove some trees and replace it with indigenous ones.”

“We will be planting indigenous trees, that have an umbrella like shape which will create a lot of shade,” said Whittaker.

“We are doing this to upgrade and add value to the fauna and flora in the area and did not mean to cause any harm,” he said.