Passion Effect

Passion fruit seedlings were planted at the edges of the area delineated for nursery to provide shade for the seedlings being nurtured. Within a space of one year, these seedlings grew and bloomed, giving the nursery a nice covering while producing sweet juicy fruits for our delight.

Before

After

Not only had we enjoyed the fruits, we recently noticed that the birds are beginning to see the nursery as a conducive spot.

On one beautiful Wednesday morning Waldi (Conservation Officer) called our attention to come view a beautiful African Blue Flycatcher, though we were not able to observe her well enough to enjoy her beauty, we noticed that she was using the nursery probably as a foraging ground because the passion fruit attracts a lot of insects to it, bringing her close to the office.

The charm of the passion fruit did not allow attract the flycatcher, it also attracted the Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird (which is a rather small bird and is often noticed by it pop-pop calls on the farm), making it possible for Justin (Accountant and EDEN’s Photographer) to take a beautiful shot of it.

Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird

We planted passion fruit to provide shade for the nursery and fruits as added benefits but now we noticed that some birds are attracted to it and the conservation team is happier for it.