Wildlife Land Trust / Sanctuaries / WA / Jenny and Pat’s Refuge

Jenny and Pat Fox are the owners of a property located approximately 70km south of Geraldton. The property is a dedicated wildlife sanctuary also used to agist sheep, and Jenny and Pat are currently building a home and aiming to move there in 2015. It is their intent to build wetlands and create a bush garden to encourage birdlife to the property, while revegetating more generally with indigenous tree species and grasses.

The sanctuary covers 4.7 undulating hectares of partially cleared reclaimed farmland that is part of the northern mallee shrublands and heath area. Tree plantings have been established for ten years, with dominant vegetation species including tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala), York gums (Eucalyptus loxophleba), melaleucas, and wattles (Acacia spp.).

Wildlife species for which the sanctuary is known to provide habitat include sleepy lizards (Tiliqua rugosa), sand goannas (Varanus gouldii), galahs (Eolophus roseicapilla), shrikes (Lanius spp.), laughing kookaburras (Dacelo novaeguineae), peewees (Grallina cyanoleuca), western magpies (Cracticus tibicen dorsalis), willy wagtails (Rhipidura leucophrys), kestrels (Falco spp.), grey currawongs (Strepera versicolor), wattlebirds (Anthochaeraspp.), ibis (Threskiornis moluccus), boobook owls (Ninox novaehollandiae), western brown snakes (Pseudonaja nuchalis), and golden-orb (Nephila spp.) and red-back (Latrodectus hasseltii) spiders.