Naturalist on the Bibbulmun: A walking companion

Leigh W. Simmons

The Bibbulmun Track is a World class walking trail that runs just over 1000km through the forests and across the coastal heaths of southwestern Western Australia, from the towns of Kalamunda in the North to Albany in the South.

Naturalist on the Bibbulmun is the story of one man’s journey with his son through this ancient and extraordinary corner of the world. The biodiversity is so extensive that it is impossible to provide a comprehensive field guide to the Bibbulmun Track. Nevertheless, the author musters his expertise in ecology and evolutionary biology to document the animals and plants found during the Noongar seasons of kambarang and birak, from November to January, with colour photographs throughout. In so doing we learn how evolution has shaped the extraordinary diversity of animals and plants in this corner of the World, the important roles biodiversity plays in providing the stable ecosystem in which we live and prosper, and the serious impacts to that stability imposed by our increasing overexploitation of what is an ancient and fragile landscape.

Naturalist on the Bibbulmun is both a witness statement of the current state of the natural regions of southwestern WA, and a call to arms to protect for our future generations what little remains of one of the world’s most extraordinary natural habitats.

The book is a beginners’ guide to evolutionary and ecological processes, and an insight into the trials and tribulations of the long-distance walker. But perhaps more importantly it is a call to arms.

- Ecovoice, September 2021

Book details

PUBLICATION DATE: 2021
FORMAT: Paperback
EXTENT: 308 pages
SIZE: 135 x 216 mm
ISBN: 978-1-76080-203-5
RIGHTS: World
CATEGORY: Leigh W. Simmons Natural History Staples