October 14, 2012

As promised, this post will be all about our wonderful four days at Western Flora Caravan Park at North Eneabba, just south of Geraldton.  Alison and Ross had recommended it to us and even though we would like to think that we would have been astute enough to have recognised its potential when we read about it in the raft of wildflower brochures I have collected, we will be forever grateful for their advice!

This 160 acre park, owned by Allan and Lorraine Tinkler for the past 26 years, is in the North Eneabba Sand Plains, which we now know is famous for its spectacular range of colourful flowering plants during the flowering season, July to January.

The Mid-West region contains one of the most diverse heathlands in the world, with up to 29 species per square - a flora density only equaled by the rich flora of South Africa.  There are some 2,000 species on the property, many of them less than 500cm tall.  Distressingly though, Allan informed us that only 3% of this vegetation type remains and he has had ‘conversations’ with bureaucrats who are of the view that it would be acceptable for this to fall to 1%!

Allan is described as an ‘amateur botantist’ and research scientists from universities and herbariums from around the world frequent the park at all times of the year and he and Lorraine get a ‘thank you’ from David Attenborough in his ‘Secret Life of Plants’ series, so they are obviously well-regarded in these circles!  From our point of view, as ultra-amateur native plant lovers, he is an absolute wealth of knowledge and more importantly, has that rare ability to share this knowledge in a way that is accessible and fascinating.

 

We arrived on October 7 and that afternoon joined Allan and six other ‘guests’ for his daily wildflower discovery walk.  What an experience!  We learnt so much about the heathland and its species and heaps about the ways in which these plants have evolved to ensure their survival – the range of adaptations to ensure pollination by birds, insects or the wind was truly remarkable.  It was one of those occasions when you knew snippets of what he was explaining, but Allan was able to take our understanding to a whole new level.

As we walked we saw a flock of about 20 Carnaby’s (or White-tailed Black) Cockatoos which call the property home.  These beautiful birds, which live only in the SW of WA, are now a threatened species, because of habitat loss through land clearing for farming, particularly in the wheatbelt and the effects of chemicals on the shells of their eggs. 
Another sad story!  Couldn’t get a photo of them, but did manage one of this gorgeous Australian Ringneck, which was busy feeding on the grass on the side of the track.

 

One of the highlights of the walk was the half hour we spent with Allan as he showed us the plants he had collected as we walked, on his dissecting microscope – we were even more amazed at the miracles of pollination.  Allan showed us the flowers on the microscope under ultra-violet light, the spectrum in which insects see.  Under this light, reds for example appear black, so red flowers are not attractive to insects – they are pollinated by birds or mammals. 

The other really fascinating thing we learnt was that, contrary to what I had assumed about some flowers changing colour due to aging, it is actually a change brought about by that particular flower being successfully pollinated.  The plant does not want to waste precious resources and ‘insect time’ so once pollination occurs, it changes the chemical make-up and therefore the colour of the flower eg yellow to red, like in this Verticordia.   Here I go again – too much information, but it is so fascinating!

Verticordia nitens (Morrison Featherflower)

Murray and I spent Monday walking around the property – back to the dam where we had been entranced by the Motor Bike and Groaning Frogs (there was also a Pobblebonk Frog) and then on the loop walk down to the Arrowsmith River on the boundary. 

 There was quite a large group of Black-tailed Native Hens living at the dam and they took off across the paddock at a great rate of knots every time they heard anyone coming.  Allan told us that one visitor had tracked him down to tell him that his 'chooks' had escaped!

I was just wonderful - an absolute carpet of flowers and Murray only just refrained from throttling me because I kept stopping to take photos. 

 

 

Later in the day I went and did a good lot of it again by myself so I could indulge my whims as much as I liked, so these photos of some of the more spectacular flowers are just a few of the many I now have!  They may be labeled with the common name, genus and species or just genus, depending on how much or how little I know!  Will set Scott  to work identifying those I don't know (or have gotten wrong!) when we get home.

Eucalyptus rhodantha

Eucalyptus rhodantha

Eucalyptus rhodantha

Eucalyptus species

Eucalyptus species

Banksia attenuata (Elegant Banksia)

Banksia hookeriana (Acorn Banksia)

Eucalyptus torquata (Coral Gum)

Eucalyptus torquata (Coral Gum)

Hakea bucculenta

Ricinocarpus tuberculatus (Wedding bush)

Trigger Plant

 

Rusty Eremaea

 

Smokebush

Tangled Leschenaultia - more colour changes after pollination!

Verticordia fragrans (Fragrant Verticordia)

Verticordia grandis (Scarlet Featherflower)

On Tuesday we joined one of Allan’s ‘tag-along’ 4x4 tours of the area around their property and enjoyed another three and a half hours of wonder as he took us along tracks and up and down breakaways to show us some of the most splendid and fascinating plants of the heathland.  Will start with some general shots of the area and then add a few of the most beautiful.  One of the more interesting aspects of Allen’s approach is his view that the flowers are first and foremost an integral part of pollination – often very beautiful, it is true and we should be just as entranced by the resultant seeds as we are by the flowers.

 

 

 

Red Leschenaultia

 

Dampiera species

Dampiera species

Fringe Lily

Arrowsmith River, which no longer runs to the sea as falling sea levels left a row of sand dunes between the river and the coast; the river now just disappears into the sand further downstream.

Macropidia fulginosa (Black Kangaroo Paw) - one of the few native plants in Australia which has black flowers

Calytrix species

Native Foxglove

Plenty of Grass Trees!

Murray's photo of me taking yet more photos!

Tinsel Lily

A different part of the plant showing the change in colour after pollination

Kunzea species

Verticordia species

The whole plant - only about 35cm tall.

 

October 11 saw us heading for Jurien Bay, with what had become another absolute highlight of our now five months away, over.  It is one of those places that we would come back to in a trice though – there would always be something flowering and lots more to learn!