The Lake Victoria Reedbed
(Phragmites Australis)

The Lake Victoria reedbed October 2010

 What happened to the Lake Victoria reedbed?

Unsettled Barn swallow roosting patterns were evident from the beginning of the swallow season
in October. Then all the barn swallows settled and seemed to normalize until the 17 December,
in fact we had more barn swallows than we had ever seen in previous years.
To our astonishment and dismay the Barn Swallows all disappeared between Christmas and New Year, not one barn swallow was to be seen roosting in Lake Victoria.
What had happened? what had caused this major upset?

We received word from the radar team (ACSA) whom run and monitor the barn swallows, they told us that
the Barn Swallows hadn’t left and that they were using the Mdloti estuary and Froggy Pond.
Perplexed by this sudden change in swallow behaviour a meeting was called with experts and all possible assumptions and possible causes were debated and explored thoroughly. The outcome was the fact the reed Phragmites Australis had reached the end of its life and was currently undergoing regeneration.
The old reed not strong enough for swallow roosting and the new reed was not long enough. The reed lasted just long enough for the arrival of Barn Swallow migrants.

Reflecting back to the end of last season (April 2010) I remembered that the reed had produced a black flower tip or plume and we had thought that it look strange but didn’t pay that much attention to it.
Apparently this is a sign of pollination, seeding and the start of the regeneration process, the reed has an approximate life span of five years.

Currently the new reed regrowth is growing at an extremely accelerated rate and it will be interesting to
see if when the migration begins in March if the reedbed is used by the migratory Barn swallows
returning from roosting grounds further South.

Westbrook Beach Club

I was contacted by an estate in Westbrook Beach ( ±20km North of Mount Moreland) and was informed that they also have a small reedbed on their property and that they had a similar situation. I advised that I am not am expert but I sure wanted to compare ‘apples with apples’.
On a visual inspection of the Westbrook Beach Club reedbed I was astounded to see the same regeneration occurring and that the new reed regrowth was about the same length as in Lake Victoria, amazing.
This reedbed is also void of bird life currently.