Visitors to Narrogin in summer could be forgiven for thinking that many understorey plants have died, but each winter most  burst into life again.
There are many plant strategies for coping with our seasonal droughts.
Each November marri trees drop some leaves to reduce their water use, and orchids survive as twin underground bulbs.
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True specialists are resurrection plants, which completely dry out but, become green and active within days of rain. Examples are lichens (OK not plants) and Borya species, “pincushion plants" mostly found in soil on granite rocks 

​Many other plants partially shrivel and change colour to ultraviolet resistant purple, red, and yellow, but remain alive in most seasons. However it takes days for them to recover after rain, and plants will die in severe droughts.
The compact bush tucker plant kickbush (Astroloma acervatum) is a good example

I followed the rejuvenation of one plant in summer after rain in the first week of February followed by another in the first week of March 2021

​Allocasuarinas (sheoaks and tammars) can also markedly change colour as shown in dwarf tammar (Allocasuarina humilis) images below  near the Claypit. I noticed colour differences within the plant where some branches were more water stressed than others.
Random comment – why do taxonomists use the Latin word humilis for smaller?
As a person of moderate stature, I consider this heightist bias, and feel no humility towards my larger brethren (poor souls).

​This interesting extract from a book edited by Professor Hans Lambers is a great read for those wishing to understand more about drought tolerance of our native plants.
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 Have you ever wondered why Australia has no cacti and few succulents compared to other countries?
Succulent plants rely on salts in their cells to retain large amounts of water. Their evolution has not been favoured on most of our soils which have formed on leached and weathered materials, except in saline basins where one finds salt tolerant succulents like bluebush, pigface, and samphire.

The Claypit is one of three picnic areas in Foxes Lair based on two shallow pits, which fill and empty seasonally. Over the years, it has been a labour of love and source of frustration.
The reason for the existence of the twin excavations is unknown, with possibilities being a brick clay quarry (unlikely as it is poor quality clay, borrow pit for adjoining Bottle Creek dam or as a soak. The initial name, Beavers Dam was also a mystery until several years after I renamed it Claypit for brevity. Ranger Guy Maley told me that he and other kids used to throw sticks in the water, which were were blown by wind into one end to resemble a beaver’s dam.
The area was converted to a picnic area because it was a magnet for off-road vehicles that created havoc on trails and in the bush elsewhere in the reserve. 

This blog records changes at the claypit over the years. It has been a challenge for the shire and volunteers, but also very satisfying to record improvements at the site.

Work began in 2016 when Tony and Deb Hughes-Owen donated bridge timbers that were emplaced by the Central South Naturalist Club to create a picnic area, and entry roads on the eastern side were blocked using falling trees. This started a battle of attrition which lasted several years. 4WD drivers breached the barriers and trashed facilities, then I would repair them and cart in tonnes of rocks, logs and soil. The tide turned after I had emplaced so many boulders that it was unsafe for 4WD activity (yay!).
Images below show a 2016 incident 

​The famous “Claypit Challenge” arose from actions to spoil off-road vehicle fun in the pits.
I scabbed rocks, logs, and limestone blocks from a range of sources to create a stepping stone circuit for the young and young at heart. Wooden stepping stones flopped because they floated, and the shire’s insurance assessor cast an eye over and (justifiably) insisted that the logs and rocks were a safety hazard and had to go. 
Luckily I discovered a heap of cut limestone blocks at the local tip. These were carted in with my trusty ute and later supplemented with blocks donated from the shire to create today's configuration.
another source of satisfaction is revegetaion from plants that volunteered or were planted on the banks where topsoil was spread over the clay.
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Photomonitoring is a great activity for conservation groups because it enables them to see the fruits of their labour.
Images below show the transformation of the eastern pit.