PARTICIPANTS OBSERVATIONS
Main Club, 10–13th September 2021
On Friday, 10th September, eight members and one visitor met for an afternoon walk in Christmas Rock nature reserve just north of the caravan park. This reserve contains a rich diversity of flora typical of the laterite soil of the region. Luckily, Jonica Foss was at hand to help with plant ID! Plants seen included several orchids like Caladenia flava (Cowslip Orchid), Caladenia roei (Ant Orchid), Thylemitra antennifera (Vanilla Orchid), Diuris sp. (Donkey Orchid), and Prasophyllum sp. (Leek Orchid). Santalum acuminatum (Quandong) was seen in abundance throughout the reserve as well as beautiful York gums. Other genus represented included Trachymene, Lawrencella, Glischrocaryon, Dampiera, Gastrolobium, Hibbertia, Calytrix, Eremophila, Desmocladus, Guichenotia, Marianthus, and Cheilanthes. Christmas Rock is a granite outcrop where the very common and attractive Borya constricta was present as well as Kunzea pulchella.
Joan Sharpe
We headed to search for flowering and also rare plants at Mt Matilda on Saturday. Pretty pink Isopogon, Pink Pokers (Grevillea petrophiloides), large clumps of vibrant mauve Dampiera, and many other blooming species in amongst open woodland provided a delightful environment for our five hour outing. With the able assistance of students Nathan and Hosefa, who joined us for the day’s excursion, we had success in confirming the existence of a rare species unique to the Wongan Hills area. Their digital cameras with high magnification proved to be invaluable tools on the day. Many shy and elusive birds were heard the length of the walk, but few were identified sometimes because of distance, except for the lone Grey Fan-tail who welcomed us to the track at the beginning of the walk.
Heather Galluccio
Dampiera sp. 
Marianthus erubescens
Our program for Sunday morning was to visit a private property near Mt O’Brien to search for our target rare species again. After travelling about 10km of bitumen road and a stretch of gravel we arrived at our destination – Mt O’Brien lookout.
We began looking down the slope of dense prickly bushes below the carpark and were rewarded almost immediately. There appeared to be hundreds of them in the immediate vicinity of the lookout. Our final stop was Gathercole Nature Reserve, famous for some amazing rock formations and it’s only 10km out of Wongan Hills. The journey there took us through miles of intense yellow flowers on both sides of the road – acacia trees, oxalis, dandelions and canola flowers all blooming at the same time. After walking into the park trail for only 10 minutes I came across an array of beautiful boulders. While admiring these majestic rocks I noticed about half a dozen fast-moving Ornate Lizards among the rocks. These were so interesting that, instead of completing the two hour walk around the reserve like the rest of the group, I stayed and observed the lizards.
Guat Soh
On Monday, we drove South, then SW along Calingiri Rd, and stopped briefly at Lake Ninah which lapped the narrow sandy beach. About five ducks including an Australian Shelduck were out towards the middle of the lake, and on shore a pair of Crested Pigeons displayed high in a dead tree. Kim noticed tiny crustaceans and worms in shallow water close to shore.
Fifty kilometers from Wongan Hills, we turned off into Rica Erickson Reserve. As I stepped out towards the scrub, I realised I must tread carefully between low clumps and patches of plants between the shrubs, splashed with intense colour: bright blue Lechenaultia, miniature pale yellow Conostylis, bright yellow Hibbertia, various purple plants, many different yellow, bright orange, dusky orange and red pea flowers in various colour combinations, and small neat dark-green patches of tiny white daisy-like flowers. The slower I walked, and the closer I looked, the more I saw: groups of tiny pink trigger plants each with a single oblong, candy-pink flower, many different orchids, lilies, Drosera rosettes, etc. Luckily, we had Jonica, an expert in identifying the flowers we saw, and to make comprehensive lists.
It was good to have visited various reserves showcasing the underlying geology of the region: White sand on the walk to Christmas Rock; Granite domes of Christmas Rock and Gathercole; Laterite/ Ironstone of Mt Mathilda and Mt O’Brien and a flat clay pan in Rica Erickson reserve.
Compiled by Jenni Marsh
see Page 2 for Plant List