Biodiversity

Earthworms

At Hidden Valley the philosophy is that we work closely with nature. So it is that we have 100’s of these little hermaphrodites (Contain both female and male organs) in our vermiculture farm. They are given the green vegetable offcuts from Overture Restaurant at Hidden Valley daily and spend the dark, quiet hours in the farm bins eating away to produce valuable compost and urine which we use in the extensive landscaped gardens around the Cellar to promote strong plant growth. Their contribution is a vital link in the Hidden Valley sustainability chain. It is easy to overlook their importance as their efforts are so Hidden.

Fish

All water used on the Hidden Valley farm is recycled via a bio plant and reintroduced into the farm dam for later use in the gardens. In order to maintain a check on the water quality certain fish were introduced into the dam two years ago. The fish act as an early warning system should water quality deteriorate. Telapia, Grass Carp, Barbel and Trout were advised by Cape Nature. The Chinese Grass Carp are specially neutered fish to prevent breeding of this exotic. The purpose of this species is to keep a check on the possible fresh water grass weed encroachment in the dam. As the name indicates they eat lots of grass. The tilapia are food for the many water birds we have on the dam especially “Sushi” the African Darter who regularly takes his meal with us. The barbel are bottom feeders and keep the detritus on the bottom clean.  The trout are for the Overture guests (when they have reached maturity). Chef Bertus Basson is extremely keen to produce a “Catch and Smoke”  dish on the menu whereby trout caught will be immediately gutted, cleaned and smoked on site to be served to keen Overture guests. Watch his menu……

Birds

The Cape Bird Club came to Hidden Valley in September 2008 and saw a list of birds during the +/-3 hours that they have spend here. Species are listed in the order in which they appear on a check-list and this brings the total up to 40 species.