Dragon Rocks is a 322 km² nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 in the south-east of the wheatbelt region of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, some 310 km east-south-east of Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

. It is surrounded by farmland. It is listed on Australia’s Register of the National Estate

Register of the National Estate

The Register of the National Estate is a listing of natural and cultural heritage places in Australia. The listing was initially compiled between 1976 and 2003 by the Australian Heritage Commission. The register is now maintained by the Australian Heritage Council...

 as an area significant for rare species of plants and animals.

Flora and fauna

There reserve contains 28 different vegetation associations, including heath

Heath

-Habitats:* Heath or heathland, low-growing woody vegetation, mostly consisting of heathers and related species* Heaths in the British National Vegetation Classification system...

s, woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

s, low forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s, mallee

Mallee (habit)

Mallee is the growth habit of certain eucalypt species that grow with multiple stems springing from an underground lignotuber, usually to a height of no more than ten metres...

 and kwongan

Kwongan

Kwongan is a type of heathland found on the coastal plains of Western Australia. The name is derived from the language of the Noongar people. Kwongan comprises floristically-rich heath with dense thickets of sclerophyllous shrubs and isolated small trees...

. The large number of plant communitiess form a complex mosaic characteristic of wheatbelt vegetation, including vegetation communities occurring on laterite

Laterite

Laterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...

. Sixteen 16 plants, including 13 eucalypt

Eucalypt

Eucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera:Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora.In 1995 new evidence, largely genetic, indicated that some prominent Eucalyptus species were actually more closely related to Angophora than to the other eucalypts; they were split off into the...

s, are endemic either to the wheatbelt region or to Western Australia. The rare Lake Varley Grevillea

Grevillea involucrata

Grevillea involucrata, also known as Lake Varley Grevillea, is a low-growing shrub which is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia...

 is found in the reserve.

Frog species found in the reserve include Günther's Toadlet

Günther's Toadlet

The Günther's Toadlet is a species of frog in the Myobatrachidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, intermittent rivers, swamps, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, and...

 and the Spotted-thighed Frog

Litoria cyclorhyncha

Litoria cyclorhyncha is a Western Australian tree frog species in the Hylidae family.The frog is similar in appearance to a cogenor, Litoria moorei, bearing dark green or brownish patches with bronze or gold highlights on its back; this species can be differentiated by the numerous yellowish spots...

. Reptiles present include at least three legless lizard

Legless lizard

Legless lizard may refer to any of several groups of lizards which have independently lost limbs or reduced them to the point of being of no use in locomotion. It is the common name for the family Pygopodidae, but often refers to other groups, such as limbless anguids, depending upon the region of...

s and three gecko

Gecko

Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 cm to 60 cm....

s. The Honey Possum

Honey Possum

The honey possum or tait, its Native Australian name or noolbenger is a tiny Australian marsupial weighing just seven to eleven grams for the male, and eight to sixteen grams for the female—about half the weight of a mouse. Their physical size ranges from a body length of between 6.5 –...

, Gilbert's Dunnart

Gilbert's Dunnart

Gilbert's Dunnart is a recently discovered dunnart, described in 1984. The length from snout to tail being 155-180 mm of which head to anus is 80-90 mm and tail 75-90 mm long...

 and the Red-tailed Phascogale

Red-tailed Phascogale

The Red-tailed Phascogale , also known as the Red-tailed Wambenger, is a small carnivorous marsupial found in central and western Australia...

 are present.

The reserve has been identified as an Important Bird Area

Important Bird Area

An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...

 because it supports populations of the endangered Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo, Malleefowl

Malleefowl

The Malleefowl is a stocky ground-dwelling Australian bird about the size of a domestic chicken...

, Western Rosella

Western Rosella

The Western Rosella Platycercus icterotis, less commonly known as the Stanley Rosella, Earl of Derby's parakeet or Yellow-cheeked parakeet, is the smallest species of rosella and is found in the South West of Australia. in Eucalypt forests and timbered areas. These are smallish parrots measuring ...

, Blue-breasted Fairy-wren

Blue-breasted Fairy-wren

The Blue-breasted Fairywren is a species of bird in the Maluridae family.It is endemic to Australia.The range of the Blue-breasted Wren is inland south-western Western Australia and the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia...

, Purple-gaped Honeyeater

Purple-gaped Honeyeater

The Purple-gaped Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitat is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation.-References:...

 and Western Yellow Robin

Western Yellow Robin

The Western Yellow Robin is a species of bird in the Petroicidae family. It is endemic to Australia, and sometimes known overseas as the Grey-breasted Robin....

.