Binoculars at the ready. The Wits Bird Club Committee for 2025 on a birding outing at Dullstroom
The BirdLife South Africa-affiliated Witwatersrand Bird Club has previously supported the Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project by sponsoring 16 hectares, 10 ha of which came from the Maria Luisa Amaro Bequest in 2021. Now the Wits Bird Club, as it is affectionately known, has increased its sponsorship to 36 ha, placing it among the top four sponsoring affiliated bird clubs in South Africa, along with BirdLife eThekwini KZN (100 ha), the Cape Bird Club (20 ha) and the Tygerberg Bird Club (20 ha). The unaffiliated and KwaZulu-Natal-based Dolphin Coast Bird Club, not be outdone, has sponsored 26 ha. These five bird clubs have together sponsored 202 hectares.
The Wits Bird Club’s Honorary President, Lance Robinson, writes to MFM News: “The club is a registered non-profit organisation. We were bequeathed a sum of money by one of our members some years back, and the committee decided to invest it. A portion of our investment income is annually earmarked for conservation projects.”
Lance continues: “Supporting the Mouse-Free Marion Project aligns strongly with our club’s conservation values and commitment to protecting avian biodiversity. The project represents one of the most ambitious island restoration efforts in the world, and our continued financial contribution will help ensure its success. By donating further funds, we are actively participating in a legacy of conservation that will benefit generations of birds – and birders – to come.
Both the club’s chair, Andy Featherstone and Lance were aboard BirdLife South Africa’s Flock to Marion AGAIN! 2025 voyage in January this year, along with about 30 members who held a few gatherings on the ship.
Members of the Wits Bird Club take a break from spotting albatrosses on the MSC Musica during the Flock to Marion AGAIN! 2025 voyage; photograph from Andy Featherstone
The MFM Project would like to repeat a challenge to the 40 BirdLife South Africa-affiliated clubs to consider increasing their hectare sponsorships (or for some, making their first).
With thanks to Andy Featherstone and Lance Robinson, Witwatersrand Bird Club.
John Cooper, News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 05 August 2025
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A breeding pair of Northern Giant Petrels Macronectes halli on Marion Island; the noticeably larger-billed male is on the nest at left. Photograph by Michelle Risi
The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a registered non-profit company (No. 2020/922433/08) in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean. The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate. For more information or to support the project please visit mousefreemarion.org.
