NS Branch 28^th July 2021

“Golly weren’t we lucky, not a drop of rain”, was the common exclamation at the end of our two hours walk around the Wandoo Heights Nature Reserve at Millendon.

Nineteen Nats members, friends, Meet-up subscribers and others interested in trying out a Nats Club event, gathered at the cottage for an introduction to the nature reserve which is now managed by the City of Swan.

The 22 hectares property is a unique granite and bush landscape on the Darling Escarpment. It is part of an original block of 4,000 hectares on the Upper Swan, granted in 1830 to George Fletcher Moore, the Advocate General for the Swan Colony. Because of its general unsuitability for farming, this particular area was not cleared in the early days thus much is still in its virgin state, as would have been observed by the early botanists.

In 1960, the property was acquired by Miss Olive Gear and Mr Harry and Adela Hyde who named the property “Wandoo Heights”. In 1988 the property was entrusted to the City of Swan. The deed charges the city with maintaining Wandoo Heights as a flora and fauna reserve for present and future generations. Before setting off, Don Poynton read extracts from Olive Gear’s diary for July 1979. In contrast to this year, it happened to be one of the driest Julys ever recorded. This may have accounted for why some of the plants she recorded as being in flower, were absent or not as prolific this year – or maybe we just didn’t know what to look for.

Two walk trails were on offer. Those who had to leave early took the short walk, but the majority tackled the longer and certainly more challenging trail which included a steep climb towards the end. But even this group split into the “generalists” and the “specialists”. The latter lagging far behind as they consulted plant books, argued over identifications, and waited their turn to take photographs. Both trails meander through stands of wandoo, allocasuarina, banksia and Marri.

Nats members take a break at the Lookout. Photo credit: Sophie Xiang

Mass display of Panjang. Photo credit: Don Poynton

There were far too many flora and fungi species in the lower stories to compile a complete list. However, thanks to Tanya Marwood, who brought along her copy of Darlington and Surrounds Local Flora and Bushland, and Sophie Xiang, who used her phone ID app, we were able to identify many of the plants that were in flower.

Michel Kwok, who has a passion for bush tucker, was able to identify and provide information on the cultivation of the native yam, Dioscorea hastifolia, by the indigenous people of the Southwest.

Surprisingly, we encountered very few birds – possibly the morning’s wet and windy weather had sent them lower into the valley for shelter. Steve Lofthouse’s keen eyes spotted several invertebrates including a large millipede and a couple of caterpillar species, while Helen Clifton found the only live specimen of a native snail which Northern Suburbs member Ben Schneider has since identified as possibly Bothriembryon kendricki.

As the sun was still shining on our return many of us then enjoyed our lunch while sitting on the cottage veranda. Only a couple of the attendees had been to Wandoo Heights before, and based on the feedback, everyone was extremely pleased to have taken a punt on the weather.

Don Poynton