Greetings fellow Foxies,
 
At the end of August, Aileen and I had one of our best holidays together, at Wooleen Station in the Murchison. The holiday was particularly special as we stayed in the homestead and spent a lot of time over meals talking with owners David and Frances Pollock and other homestay guests. David and Frances are exceptional people who really inspired me to learn about this attractive, tough and interesting part of WA.
I have a good friend who worked as a rangeland adviser in the Gascoyne region, and who did rangeland vegetation monitoring but didn’t really appreciate his work or knowledge (sorry Don), until David explained the extent and ongoing nature of the degradation, the value of the now discontinued monitoring, and his inspiring vision/work.
There is just too much to summarise in an article, so I am listing some of my learning and experiential  highlights and urge you to learn more through the Australian Story podcasts, David’s exceptionally well researched and well written book “The Wooleen Way”, and their website .
 
Wooleen is totally different to Foxes Lair (although I did find some laterite), but I was amazed to similar principles and processes in a landscape where European activity has negatively altered the natural balance.
 
A few really interesting things
 

• On the drive up to Wooleen I kept noticing how the bush on one side of the road was prolific and looked like it had been burnt on the other. David explained that this is due to water starvation on the downside from being redirected on the upside by the road. Slopes up there are so low, the area looks flat. I see the same thing on a MUCH smaller scale in Foxes Lair from water running off our soils because of water repellence and almost no soil disturbance due to extinction of burrowing animals.
• Vegetation was once very different with large amounts of perennial grasses, saltbushes, bluebushes and other edible shrubs that have been eaten out to leave unpalatable species, annuals and much more bare ground.
• Many of these shrubs are very long lived. 100-year-old knee high bushes!  (I wonder how old the gnarled Kunzea baxteri shrubs in cracks on top of Yilliminning Rock are?). Once these go it takes a very long time for them to re-establish.
• No doubt, the local Wajarri people did controlled burning to freshen up grass growth, but fire is much less important than in agricultural areas for regeneration.
• The major issue there is sustained grazing pressure of perennial plants with drinking water availability and dingo predation being the major factor limiting overgrazing before the advent of the present stations.
• I was amazed to learn that kangaroos and feral goats make up 60% of the grazing pressure in that region and continues even when livestock are removed or greatly reduced. Assisting drought-stricken pastoralists on shrublands to retain livestock by supplying feed increases long term degradation as they and the masses of roos/goats continue to eat stressed shrubs until they die.
• By allowing the dingo (the natural predator) back onto his property, David has cleaned out all foxes and goats and brought roo numbers back to a normal level. As dingos only have a small effect on cattle it is a win win. Redirect money from controlling them into robust and maintained dingo fences to keep them out of agricultural areas. Read his book – this is highly contentious but brilliant. Unfortunately, dingos don’t get all the cats but must be reducing their numbers.
• Station owners have to get the bulk of their income from grazing !!!! (illegal to just have tourism) This is just one of the amazingly destructive edicts by the pastoralist dominated Pastoral Board that has resisted government efforts to reform them. I smell a lot of political clout there that will only go when that generation passes.

 
Below is a list of special experiences and learnings that made this a special holiday for this geology/soils/nature loving geek and his (relatively) normal wife, and links to Google Photos albums of favourite images.
 

• There is something special about staying in a station homestead and being able to learn so much over leisurely meals.

• Desert tree frogs in the outside toilet at night.
•  Really interesting buildings, museum, miscellaneous artefacts. A great feature of remote dry places is that old building, machinery remains as a testament to the past. All sort so things like the hand bellows in the forge and machine for making corrugated iron for the roof. Of course, I had to visit their dump and do recommend it.
• Wooleen Lake is a unique RAMSAR listed freshwater lake that has water about every 4 years (we were lucky). Amazing bird life and I found an interesting toadstool around a cow pat there. The lake is fresh because it was only formed relatively recently (60,000 years ago) by a fault that diverted the Roderick River from its course to the Murchison River.
• David’s bus tour of the property that culminates with watching a sunset from a large granite outcrop with a glass of wine. A must do to really understand the shrublands, David’s reclamation and local aboriginal culture.
• Beautiful and many quite different wildflowers in the short growing season. Incidentally the masses of everlastings that everyone loves are partially an artefact of land degradation. In pristine country shrubs and grasses would have dominated, with masses of everlasting only emerging after fire or soil disturbance.
• Lots more like the Murchison River, Yewlands Pool etc

 
Click this link for my pics
 
https://photos.app.goo.gl/VrMy64T1fDRdhjMc9
​

Greetings fellow Foxies,
This approximately 2000 ha reserve is adjacent to Pauley Road 15 km north-east of Cuballing.
​The unusual shape of the reserve is due to it being a gravelly ridge between Commodine Creek and Hotham River, which remained after adjoining farmers had cleared better quality surrounding land
 In the early 1900’s there were many new settlers clearing land in east Cuballing, particularly given that an east-west railway line was expected to pass through the area.

​A one-teacher transportable school arrived in 1921 but struggled to attract students and closed in 1936.  More information can be found in the book (Numbat Country The story of the shire of Cuballing from earliest times until 1997’ page 129)

Derelict tennis courts of the Commodine Tennis Club are still present on the north-west corner of the reserve. This was a very active club that operated from 1908 to 1991. Numbat Country:  page 166.               

​From Pauley Road the reserve looks like wandoo/salmon gum/ sheoak woodland, but it is much more variable with most being gravels. Purple and red shaded areas are loamy gravels (Red Morrel soil) and Brown Mallet breakaways that are underlain by dolerite type bedrock. On the southern end is also a strip of less common Silver Mallet. These areas have very little understory, but a great bird habitat areas. Red Morrel wood is exceptionally hard, and was used for the axles and spokes of horse/ bullock carts and wagons.
The rest of the reserve underlain by granite bedrock includes sandy and stony gravels, wandoo woodland, and small patches of yellow and white sand.

​Bush adjoining Pauley Road is best for wildflower enthusiasts, with a great display of Fringed Mantis, Cowslip and donkey orchids in the sheoak woodland and lovely everlastings in wandoo open woodland. I thoroughly enjoy driving down the north-west boundary track, and walking through the rest of the reserve. It is quite easy to walk through and the vegetation changes frequently from gravel mallee and ti tree scrub to different woodland types with frequent grass trees. I find the south east corner particularly interesting, but the track there can be difficult due to fallen vegetation.

​Some grass trees have been damaged and killed by Ring Necked parrots and there are active rabbit burrows in sandy spots. This is another example of how difficult it is to manage small reserves to maintain biodiversity

​To summarise: Commodine Nature Reserve is a very pleasant spot for the average tourist to visit in spring for wildflowers and local history, and a good spot for bird enthusiasts.
It is also a good spot for more dedicated bushwalkers and wildflower enthusiasts. 

​Greetings fellow Foxies,
                                     This reserve is an absolute gem, which is actually a long way east of the Yornaning siding. It is 20km north-east of Cuballing in the Wickepin Shire. To get there from the Great Southern Highway, turn east at Cuballing on the Cuballing East Road, Turn left up Pauley Road, drive past Commodine Reserve, to the start of the reserve at the Modra Road turnoff.
​​We have variable soil types, First World War, the Great Depression, and the rabbit plague to thank for this reserve. As early lithographs on left show, the reserve was allocated for farming, starting from the early 1900s when there were plans for an east/west railway line through Cuballing, with Wickepin Springs in red as a proposed townsite.

Most of the reserve was cleared but regrew after the owner went broke and walked off the property. As it contains lots of rocky and poor sand areas, the land was resurveyed as a reserve.
 
This reserve is a part of the catchment divide between the Hotham, and Avon river catchments.
This reserve has a great mix of rocky soils, sandplain, breakaways and pristine forest types, which change frequently revealing new flowers and views as you wander through the bush.
One downside is that the tracks are not frequently maintained. Many are a bit rough and stony (OK for my ute), and have two sandy areas that an average car could get bogged when dry.
The reserve has upland pale sand/ sandy gravel plains that are often bounded by steep breakaways (red dotted lines). The bulk of the reserve is undulating sheoak and wandoo soil with rock outcrops (great spring wildflower country).
Arrows show suggested driving direction for average cars. Double arrows indicate that you can drive in either direction. Where tracks pass through loose sandy spots the single arrow indicates driving in a downslope direction, and to avoid stopping in loose sand. Avoid driving in the south-east corner – you may get stuck in boggy spots and below a very steep slope.

​The shaded zones below are my favourite spots

Zone 1 is granite outcrop with sheoak/wandoo gravel woodland bounded by a steep breakaway on the west.
 To get there drive on to the firebreak on the eastern side of the reserve and follow it all the way to a granite outcrop, and turn around and return the way you came.The trail continues over the granite outcrop but please do not drive on it. The trail is rocky and rough and leads to a very steep breakaway that is only suitable for 4WD vehicles.
This is lovely wildflower country in spring and a nice place for a picnic.
However be on your guard! I found a fearsome claw there that could only belong to an East Yornaning Bunyip.

if you only have a 2WD vehicle  the easiest way to visit it is to drive on to the firebreak on the eastern side of the reserve, turn right on the second intersecting track, park on firm soil at the start of the sand and walk uphill. If you wish to drive through this area with a 2WD, approach from the south, either from the track leading off Modra Road, or the (zone 3) first intersecting track along the eastern firebreak.
On the original block description this area was called ‘Worthless Sand’. Thank heavens it wasn’t ever cleared, as it has the most diverse collection of white sand wildflowers that I have seen in the district. It is a kwongan shrub plain containing scattered Banksia attentuata and Christmas tree/Nuytsia floribunda trees. You need to visit his area at least four times to catch the overlapping peak flowering periods: Late August, October, November, and December-January. Fabulous area!
A small fenced area at the top of the slope protects a rare Acacia. It also contains other species that are not growing outside, and shows that isolated reserves are not necessarily ‘natural’ due to kangaroo grazing pressure and other stresses.

​To get to zone 3 drive along the firebreak on the eastern side of the reserve and turn right on the first intersecting track. The track is quite firm but can be a bit rough and stony in sections. A good place to stop is about 100 metres before meeting an intersecting track on the right (Avoid driving through the track on the right as it contains a very loose sandy patch). This zone has wonderful open bushwalking country, great sheoak/wandoo everlasting displays and brown mallet breakaways. Good reception on my Telstra smartphone enables me to keep my bearings.
Surprisingly this reserve is not a great orchid spot. I saw Enamel, Fringed Mantis, Cowslip, Blue Fairy, Greenhood, snail Greenhood, and Jug orchids and hope to find the Leafless Orchid spot next season

​Definitely visit this reserve if you enjoy bushwalking, bird watching and wildflower displays, and your car can handle bush tracks (2WD fine if you are careful).
Do not visit if you are car proud and need well developed and signposted walk trails
For visual exploration of the reserve click this link

Greetings fellow Foxies,
                                     Recently I climbed Yilliminning rock in the evening which is a great time to gain an understanding of its formation. There is a great story in the rock itself if you look closely.
Most continents in the world consist mainly of granite (a light coloured quartz and feldspar rich rock that crystallised out from molten magma (igneous rock). The continents are separated by black dense crystalline rock (a bit like dolerite used for road building) that underlies ocean floors.
 I suspect that the granite here formed up to two thousand million years ago (your ancestral line may have been bacteria then) when two geological plates were colliding. As one slowly slid underneath the other it was forced into deep molten rock of the mantle and gradually melted.
Being lighter, large domes of molten granite gradually forced their way upwards. They moved upwards through solid rock by “cauldron subsidence”. Intense heat from dome magma causes rock above to fracture and fall into the magma, creating a chamber that the magma moves into. Fractured rock from top and sides is often incorporated into the dome as partially melted xenoliths.
If they reach the surface, volcanoes spew out a fine grained granite like rock called andesite. However most times the domes stop two kilometers (km) or more below the land surface and gradually solidify into granite. You can tell that it cooled slowly because granite has large evenly spaced crystals.
 
Just think about it. As you stand on the top of Yilliminning Rock, you are 2 km below an ancient land surface.
 
The diagram on left shows ocean crust melting in the hot mantle after it has collided with and been forced underneath a continent. Molten material separates into dense black gabbro and lighter granite that rises towards the surface of the continent by cauldron subsidence.

​Like most of the large granite outcrops in the wheatbelt, Yilliminning Rock is an inselberg (steep sided dome of bedrock that has been exposed above the surface as surrounding land eroded away).
If you wander over the surface you can see the relatively uniform speckled pale crystalline granite.
But look carefully, and you will see more.
Yilliminning rock contains lots of roughly north-west/south-east corrugations that are easily seen at dusk as shadows define them. Simplistically, I think that these could be due to slight differences in rock composition from

• Magma intruding cracks in the cooling rock.
• Changes in crystal size and possibly mineral composition that occurred due to temperature and pressure changes as the granite slowly cooled while still molten.

The huge sheets of rock are geologically a very recent, and form in a process called exfoliation. Basically, granite is a very poor conductor of heat, and hot-cold temperature variations cause onion skin type cracks.
In winter, cracks expands as water in them freezes. Voila, a great home for Ornate Dragon Lizards (Ctenophorus ornatus). Eventually gravity and vibration/ pressure from earth movements (or more commonly humans) causes these sheets to break off and move downslope (or be crushed or carted away by humans!)
 The image below shows granite structure in a broken sheet

​Images below show rock sheet on the northern side of the rock. If you sit quietly, the dragon lizards (mini dragons really!) will come out. Watch them bobbing up and down to warn off intruders and running around on their tippy toes (evolved to help them avoid heat from hot rocks

Here are some great references
Geology of Granite
Overview of Granite Outcrops in Western Australia