Travelogue 2015/2 Wheatbelt Wildflowers

Travelogue 2015/2  Wheatbelt Wildflowers

#1 

Wild Goose 
(Internet pic)

November 8th, 2015

       It's Spring (or was when I should have written this Travelogue a few weeks back) and Rosalie and I plus Bonnie packed our caravan with grub and necessary stuff (alcohol) and headed north to the Northern Wheat-belt and the Murchison. We intended to catch part of the wildflower season and identify and photograph as many birds as possible and we achieved both objectives. We captured many photos of wildflowers that neither of us had ever seen before as well as many familiar flowers. Rosalie identified 99 species of birds including a few rare (for us) birds. Many of the birds were breeding and I managed to capture on film (is capturing on film still a legitimate term?) numerous species of birds and their chicks in nests. Some are half decent photos. You be the judge!

          Many of the early wildflowers had finished by mid September including all of the orchids and most of the everlastings but we saw heaps of beautiful flowering shrubs showing off their best. The Wreath Flowers (Leschenaultia macrantha, common name - Wreath leschenaultia) were stunning and better than we had seen on previous excursions in to Wreath Flower country. A stretch of bush north of Galena Bridge crossing the Murchison River on the North West Coastal Highway had the most stunning display of flowers in a natural setting that I can remember seeing. Most were not exactly visible boring along at 80 kms per hour but, fortunately, we stopped to take some photos of a beautiful pink flowering shrub growing a fair way off the road on low sand dunes. A short walk in to the low heath like scrub and we were rewarded with a display unlike anything seen before. Many different flowering shrubs were in full bloom with a family of Crimson Chats as well as other small birds feeding on the nectar provided by some magnificent specimens of Grevillea. The New Forest Road also provided a spectacular display of wild flowers some we had never seen before. I might add that to see all the wildflowers in Western Australia is an almost impossible feet as the season runs from August to late November and many of the 10,00o or so species only grow in isolated pockets. eg The Wreath Flower, which grows in a small area roughly centered on Mullewa.

       The birds put on a display for us this year that we were extremely happy with. I managed to take the odd photo that I thought might appeal to you and are included below or in subsequent Blogs. Two places were particularly good for the avid bird watcher and photographer namely Ballinyoo Bridge pool on the Murchison River where I managed to capture on film many breeding birds and a small shallow pool on Butchers Track that has a number of River Red Gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) growing in a very shallow depression that seems to run for many kilometres south of the road. I guess it is an ancient river that has long ceased to be a river but would be a huge fresh water lake, six inches deep, a hundred yards wide and hundreds of miles long, once every ten years or so. Without the few trees and the very small pool of water you would not notice a change in elevation when crossing the depression. Either side is typical arid mulga scrub land. The birds coming in for a drink provided nonstop all day entertainment and kept us busy with our cameras. If I said we saw 10,000 budgerigars during the day it would not be an exaggeration. I took 10,000 photos for you to view........just kiddin'.

         We spent five weeks on the road and travelled from Rockingham through Walebing, Moora, Morawa, Pindar and on to Ballinyoo Bridge via Twin Peaks Station. After staying there for 15 days we headed across New Forest Road (no forests around here though) to Northampton were we stocked up with food and drinking water. From there we drove west to the ocean and north along the relatively new coastal road to Kalbarri. East from Kalbarri back to the North West Coastal Hwy and north to 20 kms north of Billabong Road House where we turned east on to Butchers Track. 200 kms east of the North West Coastal Hwy found us back on the Mullewa Carnarvon Road heading the 150 kms north to Bilung Pool located on Bilung Creek which is a tributary of Wooramel River. The Wooramel is a fairly minor 300 km long river that flows through station country for its entirety until emptying in to Shark bay 120 kms south of Carnarvon. After staying at Bilung Pool for a few days we headed south 225 kms back to Ballinyoo Bridge and then eventually home via Wubin, Wongan Hills, Northam and York just for a bit of variation.  

       There are over 13,000 species of plants that flower in Western Australia. You may like to click on the following link to find more information:- click on this link

      My intent is to add a few photos - let's say up to 20 or 30 to a blog every few days.  I hope you get some enjoyment out of my efforts. I took maybe 8,000 photos and have culled this down to 2,233 plus a further 424 taken in May that I will draw on for some bird photos and a bit of scenery. It has taken me a month to whittle and edit down to this number but there is no way that I want you to suffer through 2,233 + 424 photos so I will whittle this number way down, in my opinion, to just the very best photos,. There will be no negotiating on what constitutes the "very best". The umpire's (that's me) decision is final................ Eh, that can't be right as Rosalie has been known to overrule the umpire, who is much more ruthless when it comes to my photos than I am. note: "Add caption" under a photo means that much effort on Rosalie's part we cannot identify the particular species. Our expert, Anne, may shed some light on the unnamed ones for me?

          Our first stop was Jingemia Cave located on top of Mount Jingemia (the name implies far more than it is. It is a small hill) about 270 kms north of Rockingham on the Midlands Road in Watheroo National Park. Many species of wildflowers can be seen at this location and below are a few. We spent a couple of hours here admiring the flowers and taking photos. Note:- Clicking on a photo will enlarge it.

img-0442 Jingemia Cave

img-0429 Petrophile

img-0439 Add caption

img-0453 Eremophila

img-0458 Acacia spc.

img-0463  Verdicordia chrysanthella. Feather Flower

img-0441  Diplolaena. Wild Rose

img-0465 Thysanotus.  Fringed Lilly

 

   The next twenty or so photos were taken in various locations on the road verge between Marchagee and Pindar.  The annual average rainfall for this area is 320mm or 12.5 inches. Pindar is pretty much on the edge of the wheatbelt. To the north the arid zone and station country commences.

img-0470 Grevillia leucopteris 

 

img-0471  Grevillia leucopteris

img-0479 Verdicordia grandis. Scarlet Featherflower

img-0482

img-0485 Everlastings in Mulga   

A few days after this photo was taken, note Rosalie is in a jumper, we had a week of warm weather with day time temperatures ranging up from 40 degrees Celsius to a warmish 44.8 degrees on one particular day. It mostly killed off the few remaining everlastings.

img-0489 Hakea. Kerosene Bush

img-0491 Grevillea

img-0493

 

img-0498 Grevillea

Below is a picture of an abandoned Belarus 7010 that I spotted in Tardun. It is most definitely not a flower even in the world of tractors. It was built around 1980 in Saint Petersburg Russia.

img-0506 Belarus 7010

        In 2000 the Western Australian Government privatized Westrail rail network, as it was then known. Since then the wheat-belt rail freight network has changed hands a few times. QR owned the network for a shortish period. It is now owned by a world wide conglomerate (Brookfield is a global alternative asset manager) based in Bermuda. Originally there was a "requirement " that the rail network would receive a $400 million upgrade. That requirement has been lost in the paper shuffling and now many of the grain freight rail lines (referred to as Tier 3) have been closed due to lack of maintenance. So what I hear you say road freight is probably cheaper than rail freight and then again it probably isn't. Who knows?  Now much of the 17 million (2013 crop) tonnes of grain are hauled by large road-trains on inadequate back roads totally unsuitable for heavy haulage. Bear with me, there is a reason for telling this tale.

The unintended consequence, or maybe it's in the "couldn't care less category " of government of the ill thought out original decision to sell the state owned rail network is: Now many local shires have recognised that their road network is not up to scratch for heavy haulage trucks so they are having to upgrade many of the wheatbelt roads. To achieve this they are clearing all the remnant vegetation from along the road verge out to the fence line. This remnant vegetation filled two very important niches in the states biodiversity: 1/. Much of WA wheatbelt flora is in decline or listed as threatened and road verges provided a very important reservoir of endangered flora. 2/. These vegetated road verges provided vital links for animals and birds to travel between isolated islands of remnant bushland. The road side vegetation also improved the look of place where many wildflowers grew. In places there were spectacular displays of Verticordia or Grevillea but not anymore where the road verges have been cleared. Guess who is paying for the road upgrades? The tax payer not the privately owned company that was supposed to upgrade the rail network. Like all state owned assets that get sold the assets eventually end up owned by huge multinational companies that don't give a rats-arse about WA let alone its flora and fauna. Brookfield hold 200 billion dollars in assets around the world.

Below is a picture of the closed line taken north of Dalwallinu. 500 kms grain freight rail line were closed in the last year or two and this doesn't include the thousands of miles of line closed some years ago.

 

img-2319 A Tier 3 Rail-line- closed

Next stop is the fabulous Wreath Flower

 

img-0597 Leschenaultia macrantha. Wreath Leschenaultia

Geoff

 

 

Ends