Rika Erickson Reserve

We left Wongan Hills Caravan Park at 9.00 am sharp in a long convoy of cars. First stop was Lake Ninan for the birdwatchers. I had stopped there on the way up, on a rather grey afternoon. In bright sunshine it looked very different:

The second shot is looking back from the lake to the car park. Self-sufficient vans can stay in this quiet spot for 48 hours.

We proceeded next to Rika Erickson Reserve, a beautiful half-way stop on the way back to Perth. It is on the Calingiri Road just off the Great Northern Highway.  It’s a little bit of protected paradise, full of birdsong and many different species of flowers:

White spider orchid

Blue enamel orchid

Conostylis

Greenhood or bird orchid

This orchid appears to have a deformity,
which no-one can explain

Group of cowslip orchids

Much more interesting, and professional, report from one of the Nats is attached:

Wongan Hills Wildflower excursion – day 4   (Jenni Marsh’s report)

Ten of us gathered near the camp kitchen for a final briefing on this sunny but freezing morning. We drove South, then SW along Calingiri Rd, and stopped briefly at Lake Ninah which lapped the narrow sandy beach. Its clear waters were a very pale tannin colour, and slightly brackish. Very few birds were seen or heard: about five ducks including an Australian shelduck were out towards the middle of the lake, and on shore a pair of crested pigeons displayed high in a dead tree. Kim noticed tiny crustaceans and worms in shallow water close to shore.

Fifty kilometers from Wongan Hills, we turned off into Rica Erickson Reserve, and parked in beautiful open Wandoo bushland dotted with small pale-orange conical ant-hills, amongst low greyish-green shrubs, some with white flowers, and the occasional taller rounded Isopogon with showy pink pincushion flowers, on what at first glance appeared to be bare clay. 

As I stepped out towards the scrub, I realised I must tread carefully between low clumps and patches of plants between the shrubs, splashed with intense colour: bright blue Lechenaultia, miniature pale yellow Conostylis, bright yellow Hibbertia, various purple plants, many different yellow, bright orange, dusky orange and red pea flowers in various colour combinations, and small neat dark-green patches of tiny white daisy-like flowers. 

On the bare clay between the showy colourful clumps, was a beautiful delicate surprise at every careful footstep. I almost felt as though I should tiptoe through the flowers. The slower I walked, and the closer I looked, the more I saw: groups of tiny pink trigger plants each with a single oblong, candy-pink flower, many different orchids, lilies, Drosera rosettes …… 

Luckily, we had Jonica, an expert in identifying the flowers we saw, and to make comprehensive lists. She attracted small crowds of wildflower tourists when they noticed that she knew her plants, and was always happy to help them, and us. I enjoyed every minute of this excursion, where there was such a diversity of habitats and wildflowers to match.  Now, I need sit down to identify the plants in my photographs, and learn their names.