protected area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
in
Gauteng
Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'.
Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...
, South Africa. It is about 15 km2 in size, and situated on the
East Rand
The East Rand is the urban eastern part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation in South Africa. The region extends from Alberton in the west to Nigel in the east, and south down to Nigel. It includes ...
on the southern half of the Blesbokspruit wetland, a
Ramsar site
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O)
*** Permanent 8 ha (P)
*** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts)
**
In 1978, a reserve 524 ha in extent was established. This was further extended to 1,526.01 ha.
Biodiversity
The Blesbokspruit wetland, in which the sanctuary is situated, is designated as an
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
. Almost 300 bird species frequent the wetland, according to the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa ( WESSA),Marievale Bird Sanctuary flyer. WESSA. 2009 with the best time to visit being between spring and the start of summer.
Birds
Birds found at the wetland include:
*
African grass owl
The African grass owl (''Tyto capensis'') is a species of owl in the barn owl family, Tytonidae.
Description
The African grass owl resembles the barn owl and has a heart shaped whitish-cream facial disc, with a narrow yellowish-buff rim which ...
Black egret
The black heron (''Egretta ardesiaca''), also known as the black egret, is an African heron. It is well known for its habit of using its wings to form a canopy when fishing.
Description
The black heron is a medium-sized (42.5–66 cm ...
*
Black heron
The black heron (''Egretta ardesiaca''), also known as the black egret, is an African heron. It is well known for its habit of using its wings to form a canopy when fishing.
Description
The black heron is a medium-sized (42.5–66 cm ...
*
Black-winged pratincole
The black-winged pratincole (''Glareola nordmanni'') is a wader in the pratincole bird family, Glareolidae. The genus name is a diminutive of Latin ''glarea'', "gravel", referring to a typical nesting habitat for pratincoles. The species name ...
*
Black-tailed godwit
The black-tailed godwit (''Limosa limosa'') is a large, long-legged, long-billed shorebird first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It is a member of the godwit genus, ''Limosa''. There are four subspecies, all with orange head, neck and chest ...
*
Buff-breasted sandpiper
The buff-breasted sandpiper (''Calidris subruficollis'') is a small wader, shorebird. The species name ''subruficollis'' is from Latin ''subrufus'', "reddish" (from ''sub'', "somewhat", and ''rufus'', "rufous") and ''collis'', "-necked/-throated" ...
Fulvous duck
The fulvous whistling duck or fulvous tree duck (''Dendrocygna bicolor'') is a species of whistling duck that breeds across the world's tropical regions in much of Mexico and South America, the West Indies, the southern United States, sub-Sahar ...
Goliath heron
The Goliath heron (''Ardea goliath''), also known as the giant heron, is a very large wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa, with smaller, declining numbers in Southwest and South Asia.
Description
This i ...
*
Marsh owl
The marsh owl (''Asio capensis'') is a medium to large species of owl in the family Strigidae.
Description
Medium-sized, dark brown with a pumpkin-shaped head with small 'ear' tufts. The facial disc is pale buff, with a distinct dark brown ri ...
Red-chested flufftail
The red-chested flufftail (''Sarothrura rufa'') is a species of bird in the family Sarothruridae
Sarothruridae is a family of small- to medium-sized ground-living birds found mostly in Madagascar and sub-Saharan Africa, with the genus ''Rallic ...
*
Sand martin
The sand martin (''Riparia riparia''), also known as the bank swallow (in the Americas), collared sand martin, or common sand martin, is a migratory passerine bird in the swallow family. It has a wide range in summer, embracing practically the w ...
Reed cormorant
The reed cormorant (''Microcarbo africanus''), also known as the long-tailed cormorant, is a bird in the cormorant family Phalacrocoracidae. It breeds in much of Africa south of the Sahara, and Madagascar. It is resident but undertakes some se ...
Slaty egret
The slaty egret (''Egretta vinaceigula'') is a small, dark egret. It is one of the species to which the ''Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds'' (AEWA) applies. It is classified as Vulnerable, the biggest thre ...
In addition to birds, mammals have also been observed in the sanctuary:
*
Blesbok
The blesbok or blesbuck (''Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi'') is a subspecies of the bontebok antelope endemic to South Africa, Eswatini and Namibia. It has a distinctive white face and forehead which inspired the name, because ''bles'' is the Afri ...
Southern reedbuck
The southern reedbuck, rietbok or common reedbuck (''Redunca arundinum'') is a diurnal antelope typically found in southern Africa. It was first described by Pieter Boddaert, a Dutch physician and naturalist, in 1785. It is placed in the genus ...
phragmites
''Phragmites'' () is a genus of four species of large perennial reed grasses found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world.
Taxonomy
The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, maintained by Kew Garden in London ...
,
typha
''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in A ...
and
juncus
''Juncus'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants, commonly known as rushes. It is the largest genus in the family Juncaceae, containing around 300 species.
Description
Rushes of the genus ''Juncus'' are herbaceous plants that superfici ...
reeds can be found between the water pans. A grassland biome occurs near the eastern border.
Activities
Access to the reserve costs R35pp and R25 per car. There is a conference centre and 2 chalets in the sanctuary. There are four bird hides at the water pans (named Flamingo, Hadeda, Duiker and Shelduck) and a public picnic site in the reserve.
Threats
The flow of the Blesbokspruit has been hampered by the surrounding industries, i.e. gold mine tailings,
sewage treatment
Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding envir ...
plants, farmland expansion and urban development in some parts of the wetland, creating disjointed pans of water in the wetland. Previously the river had few
reed beds
A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and
estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As ...
and few open stretches of shallow water. With the profusion of vegetation like sedges,
bulrushes
Bulrush is a vernacular name for several large wetland grass-like plants
*Sedge family (Cyperaceae):
**''Cyperus''
**''Scirpus''
**'' Blysmus''
**''Bolboschoenus''
**''Scirpoides''
**''Isolepis''
**''Schoenoplectus''
**''Trichophorum''
*Typhacea ...
,
duckweed
Lemnoideae is a subfamily of flowering aquatic plants, known as duckweeds, water lentils, or water lenses. They float on or just beneath the surface of still or slow-moving bodies of fresh water and wetlands. Also known as bayroot, they arose ...
and reeds, and the dumping of several large sand embankments through urban expansion, the landscape has since changed, resulting in the reduction of suitable habitat on the river.
Gallery
File:Red-knobbed Coot (or Crested Coot), Fulica cristata flying over the water at Marievale. (8131772447).jpg, Red-knobbed coot
File:Porphyrio madagascariensis at Marievale Nature Reserve (8830494738).jpg,
African swamphen
The African swamphen (''Porphyrio madagascariensis'') is a species of swamphen occurring in Egypt, Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It used to be considered a subspecies of the purple swamphen, which it resembles, but with bronze green or gre ...
File:Spotted necked otter, Hydrictis maculicollis, at Marievale playing with a plastic bottle like a dog plays with a ball. (27806084687).jpg,
Spotted-necked otter
The spotted-necked otter (''Hydrictis maculicollis''), or speckle-throated otter, is an otter native to sub-Saharan Africa.
Description
The spotted-necked otter is a relatively small species, with males measuring from nose to rump, and weigh ...
File:Gallinula chloropus meridionalis Marievale 1.jpg, A moorhen family in the sanctuary
File:African Darter, Anhinga rufa at Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa (21157049696).jpg,
African darter
The African darter (''Anhinga rufa''), sometimes called the snakebird, is a water bird of sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq.
Taxonomy
The African darter is a member of the darter family, Anhingidae, and is closely related to American (''Anhinga anhin ...
File:Lesser Flamingo, Phoenicopterus minor at Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa (20867179114).jpg, Lesser flamingo flock
File:Black-headed Heron, Ardea melanocephala at Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa (21086342810).jpg,
Black-headed heron
The black-headed heron (''Ardea melanocephala'') is a wading bird of the heron family Ardeidae, common throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It is mainly resident, but some west African birds move further north in the rainy sea ...
File:Cape Shoveler, Anas smithii at Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa (21053040472).jpg,
Cape shoveler
The Cape shoveler or Cape shoveller (''Spatula smithii'') is a species of dabbling duck of the genus ''Spatula''. It is resident in South Africa, and uncommon further north in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique, ...
File:Greater Flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus at Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa (29316926282).jpg, Greater flamingo
File:Purple Heron, Ardea purpurea at Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa (21442562645).jpg, Purple heron
File:White-throated Swallow, Hirundo albigularis at Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa (9703374780).jpg,
White-throated swallow
The white-throated swallow (''Hirundo albigularis'') is a small bird in the swallow family. It is a common species, found in southern Africa, which has benefited from the increased nesting opportunities presented by the construction of bridges a ...
File:Black crake, Amaurornis flavirostra at Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa (8836933697).jpg,
Black crake
The black crake (''Zapornia flavirostra'') is a waterbird in the rail and crake family, Rallidae. It breeds in most of sub-Saharan Africa except in very arid areas. It undertakes some seasonal movements in those parts of its range which are subj ...
File:African Rail, Rallus caerulescens at Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa (20627953813).jpg,
African rail
The African rail (''Rallus caerulescens'') is a small wetland bird of the rail family that is found in eastern and southern Africa.
Taxonomy
The African rail was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in ...
File:Greater Striped Swallow, Hirundo cucullata (syn. Cecropis cucullata), at Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa (30469692476).jpg,
Greater striped swallow
The greater striped swallow (''Cecropis cucullata'') is a large swallow that is native to Africa south of the equator.
Taxonomy
The greater striped swallow was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in h ...
File:Coming of age of the bishop. Male Southern Red Bishop, or Red Bishop, Euplectes orix at Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa. (31201506507).jpg, alt=, Juvenile male
Southern red bishop
The southern red bishop or red bishop (''Euplectes orix'') is a small passerine bird belonging to the bishop and widowbird genus '' Euplectes'' in the weaver family, the Ploceidae. It is common in wetlands and grassland in Africa south of the Eq ...