Just wondering if the bird nesting season is over at the main crag?? Want to go climbing there on saturday.

Thanks,k

Went there on Friday and the signs are still up so had to go elsewhere. The entire crag appears to be closed.

I actually heard of people climbing there anyways on Saturday past!!!!

WTF!!!!!!

These morons are going to ensure a swift 'no climbing access to Silvermine' for us all soon......

I mean, how many times should we be told not to do that? I'm guessing the Parks guys and girls are getting fed up about us all ignoring the conserving of nature... But still we persist in going to these 'temporary' no-go zones. They're going to make it a permanent no-go for climbers soon, I'm telling you!

My plea goes to all climbers everywhere! May you hear me please!!! Tell your friends, anyone who climbs, not to mess with access in any way! For the sakes of us all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If my opinion counts at all, well done to Russel, Polkadot and people like them who seems to care ...

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you have one mouth, two ears. listen more...

I'll try and find out what the situation is at Main crag. I know the signs are still up, and I know that the nesting birds are Rock Kestrels, and I saw them flying around last weekend, so that means they're probably still nesting.

However, I agree the signage is ambiguous, and it's not clear if the whole crag is closed or not. I had some comms with the Parks folk but they never got back to me as to whether or not only a part of the crag was closed, or the whole thing. I will contact them and give some feedback here.

Will then let everyone know once the crag is open again, here and on Cape Rock News.

Please just don't climb there for now. There were people there last weekend, which is pretty uncool. The crag is constantly monitored by observers from the Raptor Group, via powerful spotting scopes, so it's totally clear to them that climbers are not respecting the closure. And yes, this does jeopardise climbing for the rest of us at these venues.

C'mon people...

Just had a chat with Silvermine Nature reserve. Access closed for Faulty towers and Blaze of Glory due to birds nesting. Climbing is allowed for Main crag, lower silvermine, Peers Cave, Lakeside Pinnacle ect.

See you guys there the weekend.

Wosot

Sorry, but I have to offer a correction to the last post, at least on the Main Crag/Blaze issue.

I'm not aware of a Fawlty Towers closure, so cannot comment on that. If there are signs up there, then it's closed.

Blaze is open. There is one pair of nesting Redwing Starlings on the 19. You can climb, but I suggest do so with a helmet, they're fierce.

Main crag is CLOSED. Nesting Rock Kestrels in the centre of the crag. It will be closed for approximately six weeks.

Thank you.

My 2c on this, as a 'tourist' who climbed at Silvermine Blaze of Glory crag in early November. We pitched there, asked the guy at the gate where the crags were and told him we'd come to climb. He didn't mention anything about any of them being closed. We followed the path and saw the signs, interpreting them as saying we were allowed to be at Blaze of Glory, but not to the other side of the sign. So I did a few routes at Blaze of Glory. There were Starlings nesting there, but we'd followed the rules as far as I could tell. They're a PITA, btw, if you get too close to their nest, so don't try and climb close to it. I then went to CityRock that evening and chatted to one of the employees, who shat me out from a dizzy height because apparently I'd climbed in a banned area.

To sum it up:

1. The people at the park don't tell climbers that there are closures.
2. I don't think the signs are particularly clear, but that's from memory. Although we did manage to get the right idea, according to Brent's post above.
3. People need to get their facts straight before going off on a bunny-hugging tangent at other climbers.

If locals think the signs are ambiguous, spare a thought for tourists. Better signage would go a long way to solving the problem.

I am not sure why people are confused by the signage. It was pretty clear to me when I went there that the Main Crag was between the two signs. If you climbed there then you ignored the signs. You cannot claim that you could not understand as you walk past the sign that says no climbing between the two markers. I walked on to see where the second sign was and the entire Main crag was sqaurely between the markers.

Just to be clear... the sign is in fact also the marker?

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Climb ZA - Administrator

I must admit I can't remember if it was the marker as well (it was about 4 weeks ago), but it seemed fairly clear to my climbing partner and I.

Ok, there seemed to be more confusion around this than normal (which is saying a lot). So I thought I'd speak to the senior section ranger and get it right.

They've just sent rangers there to relocate the signage. It should be much clearer now. Also, they've marked the off-limits routes, either with tat or tape.

And lo, it did come to pass, that much confusion and gnashing of teeth rendered unto us the truth! The kestrels are actually nesting at Blaze, on the left of the crag. NOT AT MAIN CRAG. Gaaah...

You can climb the routes at Blaze to the right of the 19.
You can climb anything at Main crag (although you'll need to be fit and cranking hard...)

Apologies for the confusion. I confess I now have a headache which I'll treat with a few beers in due course...

(anyone who wants to do this job is welcome to it - the pay is awesome)
Bernt

Thanks for the stellar work, Brent.

... and people wonder where my grey hairs come from...

I've been phoned by a number of climbers who have pointed out the kestrels are nesting at Main Crag, where I thought they were initially. And not at blaze. Sigh.

I took care to determine that SANParks were really REALLY sure the kestrels were nesting at Blaze, and they were adamant that was the case. There may have been confusion amongst their rangers (who admittedly are not climbers) about which crag was which.

The bottom line is, I guess, use common sense when you see the birds.
And next time, I'm going to do my own inspection to confirm these things.

Brent (retreating to wipe egg(nog?) off face... )

We were at silvermine on friday. This is the situation:
The Kestrels are nesting at MAIN crag. On the left near top of mercury. There is signage at the top and bottom of the crag indicating you shouldn't climb anywhere between sterling silver and the false bay edge of the crag. The signage is in the correct place. I would suggest leaving the entire main crag alone as the kestrel got pretty distressed and was flying around the entire main crag. There are starlings nesting at main crag as well as kestrels.

Right now: Blaze. There are starlings nesting on the left half way up the 19. There are no kestrels in sight. we don't need to worry about starlings.

I think what has happened is confusion in crag names, and confusion in bird types.

Based on the signage and what I can see - don't climb at MAIN crag. Can climb at Blaze.

eish...