Spring Newsletter 2026

H a p py S p r i n g !

We have some really good news, the Pennington Conservancy has received 9 year and 11 months MOU’s (Memorandum of Understanding) from Umdoni Municipality to continue our mandate to protect and nurture four focal areas in Pennington. These four spaces are; The Nkomba Bird Sanctuary, the old damm area and forest that form the Makamati Trail, Dudley Park and Mpithi Park at Pennington Beach. This is a great achievement as it protects these natural spaces from development for another 10 years!

Our lease for the Beach Café expires on the 31st December this year and we are actively working on renewing this with Umdoni Municipality. For 18 years the Pennington Conservancy and Manager Heinz have been providing Pennington with scrumptious food at the beach and we are confident that this can carry on. Werely on the profits from the café to fulfill our MOU obligations protect our wild spaces and to nurture our wildlife.

Thank you to all those who support the Beach Café! We will
continue to invest the profits into protecting Pennington’s
beaches, forests, grasslands, wetlands and wild spaces.

To celebrate the PC’s 40 year anniversary, the new Circular Walk in Pennington was launched which was a great success with over 80 people taking part!

The route is a five kilometer walk which starts at either Nkomba Bird Sanctuary or the Beach Café and takes one through a forest, some wild spaces and onto the beach if you choose. A highlight is crossing the Nkomba river on a pont!

The Green Team who look after the trail will host a community walk along the Circular Trail on the first Saturday of each month. Periodically, other walks of interest will be scheduled and will be announced on our WhatsApp Community group.

The Circular Trail is open to walkers anytime, just use the map or follow the signs! Maps available from the Beach Cafe or on our website www.penningtonconservancy.co.za

An enjoyable outing is to start the Circular Trail at the Beach Café and after your walk, pop in and enjoy a meal and refreshments and enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

Spring is anticipated with excitement as the weather starts to warm up again bringing new growth, new life and renewal to nature!

The arrival of the yellow-billed kites in the first week of August is a sure sign that Spring is only weeks away! The birds are particularly active building their nests and the flocks of Black Bellied Starlings are particularly vocal as they too celebrate Spring and the warmer weather!

Allan McLennan takes ‘birders’ on the most interesting and educational bird walks in Pennington. If you are interested, please be in touch (064 867 7584) and ask to be added to the ‘Birding’ WhatsApp group so you too can enjoy the beautiful photos and receive invitations to birding outings!

The sardines this year have been disappointing in Pennington because, as I understand from the fishermen, the sea was just too warm to draw them close to our shores. So as a result, they remained in the cooler deeper waters. However, a walk on our beaches remains a favourite pastime and sometimes you may be lucky enough to find a pretty shell or two!

A coffee at the Beach Café afterwards is the ‘cherry on top’!

The first week of September is ‘Arbor Week’ when we are all encouraged to plant a tree! So if you have the space in your garden, plant a tree or shrub.

We suggest planting something that can feed our birds or buck or attract insects. Small trees like Halleria lucida (Tree Fuschia), the African Dogwood or Wild Pear are so rewarding, they are beautiful and feed our crea tures. If you are looking for a fast growing tree, the Pigeon Wood is one of the fastest growing indigenous trees and also attracts and feeds birds and insects.

Although we went through a dry winter with less rain than previous winters, the aloes and Coral Trees flowered beautifully through out our cooler months. August brought with it some good rains which revived our wild spaces as well as our gardens. The Quinine, White Stinkwood and Bridelia trees are celebrating Spring by sprouting their bright green and copper coloured regalia adding yet another aspect to the natural beauty of our indigenous bush!

Pennington is fortunate to also have many evergreen trees, such as the Natal Mahogany, the Ficus Natalensis and Milkwoods together with the Phoenix reclinate (wild date palm) and strelitzias which make our town look lush and tropical all year round!

Remember : please don’t throw the leaves in your garden away! Rather feed the soil and recycle them in your garden beds – a thin topping of leaves spread over the ground makes a wonderful mulch.

Spring is also the best time of year to be out and about exercising and enjoying nature as it flourishes once again!

Sunshine is a tonic and has many health giving properties and walking bare feet not only connects us to the earth, but helps to dissipate inflammation and make our bodies stronger! It is also a time of year when we are motivated to tend our gardens, plant seeds and revive our garden beds! Keep in mind to plant indigenous where possible. If we want to attract and nurture our wild creatures, planting exotic plants may be denying them a meal, so instead, plant some of our many and varied indigenous and, if possible, endemic plants which in turn will reward you by encouraging nature, insects and birds to visit your garden!Gardening can heal both the body and the mind!

Speaking of which, please support the Open Gardens hosted by Tidy Towns, on the week-end of the 12 / 13 September! I know you will be delighted by what you see!

If you are interested in ‘wilding’ your garden, you may like to read an article on our PC Website, “Transforming from Gardeners to Guardians of Nature” and also visit www.wearetheark.org website for ideas and inspiration! The two ‘ARK’ projects near the Beach Café are progressing well with the grasses and smaller plants and bulbs reappearing in the space near the old Pennington Railway siding. The other
site, in Mpithi Park, is proving more difficult to establish as it was previously a lawn.

Spring is a busy time for our birds and wildlife, as the birds start nesting, and together with our wildlife, produce their young. Please be mindful and slow down when driving through our ‘wildlife corridors’ which often expand, in the warmer months, to include most of our town.
The presence of wildlife roaming our streets and trails is what differentiates Pennington from most other towns and makes it so special for both residents and visitors. So please keep your dogs and pets within a fenced yard and under control when outside the perimeter of your property.

A plea to cat owners in Pennington.

Please consider putting a collar with a bell on your cats to give our wildlife a chance to get away. A bell on a cat collar warns birds and small wildlife of your cat’s approach. Bells are generally safe for cats, producing sounds around 50–60 dB, which is below levels that could harm their hearing. Some cats may take time to adjust, but most tolerate the bell well.

Key Features to Consider:
Breakaway or Quick-Release Buckle: Ensures your cat can escape if the collar gets caught on obstacles.

Comfort: Collars should fit snugly but allow space for two fingers between the collar and the cat’s neck. Material options include nylon, leather, silicone, or cotton.

Trackers are also available to put on your pet’s collar so one can keep track of where they are. As a community, we need to protect our wild life and the wild spaces of our town, especially as Pennington becomes ‘discovered’ and more popular and populated.

Other events in this year of celebrations was an excellent talk on Snakes by Pat McKrill and an afternoon with Jerry Kunene – Sax and Songs under the Fig tree – both hosted in Nkomba!

Pennington’s wild spaces are being well maintained by Brad and his team! Nkomba Bird Sanctuary is looking beautiful, and bursting with bird and insect activity! It is well worth a visit – take your binoculars and meander along the various trails this Sanctuary has to offer!

A highlight at Nkomba BS is the easy to walk Sea Bean Trail where you can search for our very own Sea Bean pod.

The Green Team of volunteers is continuing its
great work of keeping Pennington green and
gorgeous by removing invasive plants and aliens,
removing litter and dumped rubbish and doing
whatever is required to keep many of our public
open spaces appealing to both residents and
wildlife!

Speaking of litter, the Conservancy has bought 6
new ‘monkey proof’ rubbish bins and placed them at the Beach Café, at Nkomba Bird Sanctuary and along the Makamati Trail for your convenience. These bins are cleared by our own paid staff to keep them & their maintenance under control.

How to get involved in the Conservancy

Become a member of the Conservancy – the membership fee is R200 a year! You can pay your memebrship at the Beach Cafe. Membership highlights include the annual Cocktail party and a Beach Cafe Loyalty Coffee card.

Support the Beach Café – the profits from this business funds the work of the Conservancy.

Join the Green Team every Thursday at 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. to clean and clear vegetation and litter in our wild spaces and get rewarded with a free refreshment at the Beach Café afterwards. It can be hard work, but the friendships and fun make up for it! Every hour spent caring for our natural public green spaces makes a difference!

Join the Events Sub-committee, here you can assist us in organizing, hosting and planning community events. If you have an idea for a future community activity, we’d love to hear from you!

Volunteer to join the Recycling Team and be part of the most sociable community event in Pennington! The recycling Pop-Up collection is every Wednesday between 09:00 -10:00 at the Village Green.

One of the joys of living in Pennington is that we share our town with an incredible variety of wildlife. Have you spotted something unusual in your garden, along the road or in one of our natural areas? We would love to hear from you! Send your wildlife sightings to penningtonconservancy@gmail.com,
together with the date, location and possibly a photo.

Your observations help us to get a better picture of the wildlife living alongside our community.

International Beach Clean-up week happens in September!
National River Clean-Up Day is on Wednesday, 16th September.
National Recycling Day South Africa is on Friday, 18 September, The
International Coastal Clean-Up Day is on Saturday, 19 September and the World
Clean-Up Day is celebrated worldwide on Sunday, 20 September.

This year we plan to link up and join with the rest of the Southern Hemisphere for the Great Southern Bioblitz (GSB) 2026, on the weekend of the 27th to the 30th November where those who are interested can help take stock of the biodiversity of nature sharing our environment on the South Coast of Kwazulu-Natal.

Keep an eye out for notices of how you can get involved!

In conclusion, Pennington is more than a beautiful place to live, it has a community that really works and is connected by a shared appreciation for our natural surroundings. Thank you for being part of our community! Together, we can continue to protect the character, beauty and biodiversity of our town!
Happy Spring – Enjoy!!!!

Please follow us on Facebook (Pennington Conservancy NPO) and visit our website.