​Greetings fellow Foxies,
Over the years, the Claypit 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. 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.
 Images below show changes from 2011 to 2019

 The Claypit was a favoured place for tadpole collecting, a cycle circuit, trail bike jumps and 4WD enthusiasts. After many years of vandalism, and trail bike and 4WD incursions on walk trails and through the bush, I realised that Foxes Lair would never be a good place for walkers while the Claypit remained a magnet for undesirable activity exponents
Tony and Deb Hughes-Owen donated bridge timbers that were placed by the Central South Naturalist Club to create a picnic area. In a battle of attrition over several years, 4WD drivers would breach the barriers and trash facilities and I would repair them and cart in tonnes of rocks, logs, soil for landscaping, barrier reinforcements, and stepping stones. Images below show a 2016 incident 

​The famous “Claypit Challenge” arose after 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.
Recently 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. 

Narrogin shire donated 8 one metre long reconstituted limestone blocks, and will hopefully cut them in half .
 However more blocks are needed. Suitable limestone blocks would be gratefully accepted by yours truly

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,
                                     When the Friends of Foxes Lair group formed in 1999, Foxes Lair was much neglected. Numerous tracks were used as a rally circuit for trail bikes, 4WD and other vehicles, and it was used for dumping rubbish, and fireside drinking parties.
The group developed a management plan and got to work. A few years later when 30 years of regrowth was cut out to restore the arboretum, I realised that we had no before and after photos to record the tremendous progress that we had made.
I have set up a reference sites throughout Foxes Lair that are photographed regularly.
Progress over the years has been 2 steps forward and one step back.
Despite this, images of the Marri picnic area below indicate significant progress. The yellow arrow shows the same tree in each image.
In 2003 the picnic area was an evening speedway circle with spectators in the centre. Roads radiated out in four directions. The concrete picnic table was then destroyed by someone using a sledge hammer.

​With shire assistance we designed and built a car park using boulders and telephone pole bases to separate vehicles from the picnic area and used converted roads into the three walking trails. One night a group used the poles for a bonfire (and got a good dose of arsenic from the wood preservative).

​More boulders were brought in to create the barrier that you see now. 

​In 2010 we obtained a Lotteries Commission grant for an information bay and a new picnic table (far left) 

​In recent years Narrogin Shire has installed two new picnic tables (one under cover)

​The Narrogin shire is in the final stage of producing a trails master plan, which will provide a blueprint for future upgrades to Foxes Lair trails. A long overdue replacement map poster should be in place by June.

​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