Friends of Bob Blackburn Flora Reserve

21/10/2025

In person iNaturalist workshop 🌱📸

A conversation that has been coming up at WALN often is how can we properly utilise technology to make Landcarers lives easier?

iNaturalist is so much more than just uploading photos to a database, it aids in cutting edge research including changes to species distribution, finding new species and even rediscovering extinct plant species.

Join us for an in person iNaturalist workshop with Juliet Seers from CSIRO. Bring your questions and your ideas for projects using iNat and we can troubleshoot them in person. Afternoon tea and coffee/tea provided. This event will be capped at 25 places.

Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/in-person-inaturalist-for-landcare-workshop

21/10/2025

🤠𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 - Thursday 13th November, from 5pm to 6pm in Armadale.

Register to attend👉 https://events.humanitix.com/creating-a-wildlife-friendly-garden

Australia faces an extinction crisis, with native wildlife habitat disappearing at an alarming rate over the past two centuries. But everyone can contribute to reversing this trend—starting right in their own backyard! Transform your home garden into a safe haven for native birds, frogs, insects, and mammals.

In this workshop, you will learn how to:
🐸Identify common types of wildlife that visit and thrive in gardens
🌳Use native and selected non-native plants to provide food and shelter
🍃Design your garden with diverse habitat features
🐦Build and install nesting boxes and shelters for wildlife
💧Provide water sources and other essentials that support wildlife survival
❌Recognize harmful garden practices and things to avoid
👩‍🌾Monitor and record the wildlife visiting your garden

Join us to make a meaningful difference for Australia's native wildlife by creating your own backyard sanctuary!

Brought to you by Armadale Gosnells Landcare Group and the City of Armadale's Habitat Links program.

07/09/2025

FoBBFR is a member of WA Landcare Network, and we regularly attend their highly informative and useful webinars on a variety of topics.

Recently I attended one on how to get the most out of iNaturalist. Whilst I had previously given it a cursory look, it had initially seemed a bit daunting. But this webinar really showcased how useful and powerful it can be, and explained how to use it effectively. I highly recommend a watch if you’re interested in sharing and/or recording knowledge relating to our natural world. See the YouTube link in the post below. And check out their channel for more interesting webinars.

“Join Member Services Manager Eve, PhD Candidate Thomas Mesaglio, Juliet Seers and Cam Slatyer from CSIRO as we dive into iNaturalist and all of the amazing things it can do for landcarers.

This Landcare Builds Skills session will cover the basics of how to use iNaturalist. We will then explore the potential functionality for member groups, farmers and individuals as Thomas shows us how to set up a survey, how to find which species are in flower and how you can contribute to Australia’s most comprehensive and accessible database of biodiversity ever produced!”

LANDCARE BUILD SKILLS 🌳

If you weren't able to make the fantastic session last week with PhD candidate Thomas Mesaglio from iNaturalist.org and UNSW, not to fear, we record all of our online sessions where applicable to continue to facilitate post event learnings.

Watch the recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxaXp-1F-is

We have time stamped important learnings from the session to make it easier to navigate.

We have been kindly offered by Juliet Seers from CSIRO to run an in person session around the Perth area to continue to learn about iNaturalist and trouble shooting. Please let us know in the comment section if this is something that you'd be interested in so we can look at booking a venue.

📸 Walpole Nornalup National Parks Association

07/09/2025

Thank you to the Wildflower Society of WA Inc - Armadale Branch for another fantastic wildflower ramble at BBFR on the weekend. And it was great to see so many people braving the weather to explore the reserve and learn more about it.

I’ll be posting a selection of photos of what’s currently in flower sometime soon, but when the weather clears up, I recommend a visit to see the spring colours for yourself.

01/09/2025

Check out our group profile article in the latest edition of the fantastic quarterly publication, Bushland News.

https://www.dbca.wa.gov.au/get-involved/newsletters/bushland-news

https://www.dbca.wa.gov.au/media/5853/download

31/08/2025

Green Spring Beetle🪲 goes *nom nom nom* on the Acacia pulchella (Prickly Moses). 😍

There’s some wonderful wildflowers starting to bloom in the reserve at the moment🌸🌼, so don’t forget to come along this Saturday morning for the Spring Into Armadale Wildflower Ramble led by the Wildflower Society of WA Inc - Armadale Branch. See event post for more info.

23/08/2025

Part of caring for our urban bushland involves continually learning about our natural environment. The more we know, the more we are capable of doing. And we are very lucky to have so many resources and communities in Perth to help us do that. Our connection with the Wildflower Society of WA Inc - Armadale Branch has been a great asset to us and they have supported our efforts along the way.

And today, I spent an enjoyable and informative afternoon re-learning my very long-forgotten lessons on plant ID with the amazing members of the Wildflower Society of WA Murdoch Branch, who generously volunteer their time snd expertise to teach willing participants.

Whilst re-learning the basics, it was also fantastic to learn more about, and how to use, the modern technology that is available today to streamline and maximise our access to the vast amount of information on our unique and incredibly diverse native flora (and the abundant weeds too!). Thanks for a great day everyone! Highly recommend.

18/08/2025

🌼 Wildflower Ramble at Bob Blackburn Flora Reserve 🌼

Spring Into Armadale is back for 2025! Celebrate the season by joining the Wildflower Society of WA Inc - Armadale Branch for a free guided wildflower ramble through the Bob Blackburn Flora Reserve, led by Kim Fletcher.

Take a relaxed stroll through 4.5 hectares of bushland, home to a Threatened Ecological Community and often called the “Jewel in the Crown” of Armadale’s reserves. Along the way you’ll discover the beauty and diversity of our local flora, with fascinating insights that are sure to leave you both entertained and inspired.

📅 Date: Saturday, 6 September 2025
⏰ Time: 9:00am – 11:00am
📍 Meeting Point: Armadale Fitness & Aquatic Centre car park (off Champion Drive, Seville Grove)

🔗 Event details:
https://www.wildflowersocietywa.org.au/event/walk-bob-blackburn-flora-reserve/
https://my.armadale.wa.gov.au/events/wildflower-ramble-in-bob-blackburn-flora-reserve-187456441

12/08/2025

Such an important message and a great video. Please be aware of how you can help reduce the spread of this devastating pathogen through our bushland and reserves.

Bob Blackburn Flora Reserve unfortunately suffers from Phytophthora Dieback. Being a small reserve, this has the potential to be utterly devastating to this Threatened Ecological Community, which is comprised of species highly vulnerable to dieback, such as our beloved jarrah, banksia, and grass trees. Just imagine the effect losing our canopy cover would have. 😢

You can help reduce the human-caused spread by "arriving clean, leaving clean", and most importantly, stick to designated paths. Especially important in this wet weather when soil (along with soil borne pathogens) sticks to shoes.

A good practice when visiting any bushland is to spray shoes with 70% methylated spirits, 30% water solution, and brush your shoes down before arriving and when leaving. We keep a dieback kit in our car for such occasions, and at a minimum carry a bannister brush in our backpack when setting out on a walk through known dieback infected areas.

These small measures can help preserve what is left of our precious bushland into the future.

Did you know there is no cure for Phytophthora dieback? The plant disease, predominantly Phytophthora cinnamoni, is a highly destructive, microscopic, soil-b...

06/07/2025

🌿 Another Great Morning in the Reserve! 🌿

Our FoBBFR volunteer group was back out for our monthly litter cleanup yesterday morning – but thanks to the recent great work by the City of Armadale Bush Crew, there wasn’t much rubbish to collect! 👏 This gave us more time to slow down, observe the condition of the reserve, share ideas for future plans, and take notes to discuss with the CoA environmental staff.

As you might’ve noticed from our recent posts – it’s fungi season! 🍄 We spotted a variety of fascinating fungi today, along with some other great finds. Winter is such an exciting time in the bush, with many plants gearing up to flower – just waiting for their moment to shine.

🌼 Scroll through the photos to see a few highlights from today’s walk – check the notes on the pics for more details. And as always, thanks to everyone who came along and contributed!

04/07/2025

If you are interested in learning about fascinating fungi from a local expert, don’t miss out on this great opportunity with Armadale Gosnells Landcare Group and Friends of Mary Carroll Wetland.

UPDATE:
⭕️𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅⭕️

🤯On Thursday 24th July come along to our Fungi ID walk at Mary Carroll Park.

Learn about the fascinating world of fungi🍄

Local fungi expert Roz Hart will lead us on an enthralling walk to look for and identify various fungi growing around the wetland.

The event will start at 10am and run through to midday. We will also have a cup of tea, snacks and a chat.

To RSVP, send an email to [email protected] with your full name, phone number and email address before Friday 11th July. Spaces are limited.

Thanks to State Natural Resource Management Program WA for funding this event.