Above picture: Grant Morrison birding in the foothills of South Africa’s Drakensberg mountains

The Mouse-Free Marion Project is heartened with the steady increase in the numbers of people who have sponsored a hectare or more towards the 2024 operation to rid the island of the invasive House Mice that kill its seabirds.  Nearly 1000 individuals, bird clubs and charitable groups have sponsored hectares at R1000 each to date, some making generous donations of R50 000 or more.  One of these is Grant Morrison, who has written to MFM News giving his motivation for sponsoring no less than 65 hectares

“I am a keen birder and general naturalist.  I have been interested in birds and wildlife since the age of 10.  My interest in birds evolved into a passion for indigenous gardening to attract more birds to my parent’s garden at the time.  Once I qualified as a Chartered Accountant, I completed a FGASA (Field Guides Association of Southern Africa) course which opened my eyes to many other parts of our beautiful natural world.

I grew up in Pietermaritzburg in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province and as a family we would spend our holidays and weekends at a cottage on a trout farm at the head of the Hlatikulu Valley in the Drakensberg mountains, close to the KZN Crane Foundation.  The property had many stands of alien Black Wattle (native to Australia) and this piqued my interest in invasive species.  Although it made very little difference in the greater scheme of things I would often go out and cut down a few wattle trees in the hope of having some impact on the invading plants.

The area surrounding Pietermaritzburg has seen severe declines in populations of threatened Blue Swallows and Cape Parrots due to the actions of humans.  But it is difficult to reverse the human-induced land-use changes in this environment that would allow such species to flourish once more.  The Mouse-Free Marion Project appeals to me in that it represents an opportunity to reverse the damage wrought by humans and to allow albatrosses and various other seabirds to be safe on their island.  An important pillar of my faith is to support NGOs and organisations doing good work in the field of conservation and developing people.  I have been a member of BirdLife South Africa for many years and recently became a Conservation League Donor

I am a ‘landlubber’ and do not have great sea legs; I have only been on one pelagic birding trip out to sea but I can’t wait to do another one.  The main appeal of the Mouse-Free Marion Project is the restoration of an ecosystem to what it was before humans arrived.  There are few parts of the world where this can be achieved.”

The MFM Team fully agrees with Grant’s sentiments and thanks him for his welcome support of one of South Africa’s most important conservation projects.

John Cooper, News Correspondent and Member, Scientific & Technical Advisory Group, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 14 December 2021