Barmup Kangas/Bluff Rock Bushcarers

15/06/2026

Nightspotting with Bronte!

What a terrific turnout of enthusiastic Possum Spotters joined the amazingly knowledgeable Dr Bronte Van Helden for the Annual Western Ringtail Possum Tally recently, & as part of the WA Tree Festival with The City of Albany. In our third year running this event, we were fully booked again, with everyone excited & enchanted by our reserve's furry little critters! It was a beautiful still evening & we spied five WRP for the Tally.
We are so lucky & grateful to have such a wealth of expertise locally available!

Bronte is currently South Coast Natural Resource Management's Threatened Species lead, whose Phd was on the WRP of Albany. We are deeply grateful for her sharing her passion with us!

The WRP Tally is coordinated in Albany by the Oyster Harbour Catchment Group Inc. Big thanks to Cassie Dressler who joined us for the talk to upskill us all with the new digital Tally site.

Shoutout to Kylie at CoA who coordinated another great, diverse Tree Fest program for Albany!

We Barmup volis love joining in these inspiring citizen science opportunities!

23/05/2026

A surprisingly lovely Sunday morning for hanging out amid the flora! Our avid troupe of Barmup Bushy heroes, alongside Kynan from The City of Albany Reserves, got stuck into garden escapees near Anderson St & Kershaw Pl, such as ivy, buffalo grass, bridal creeper, asparagus fern, vinca & a few (but so very difficult to eradicate) arum lillies!

It's delightful to see native groundcovers & grasses gaining a foothold again in some patches!
🤗💚🌱

Huge Thankyou to all our awesome volies especially around National Volunteer Week! Legends!🎆

16/05/2026

Ola Barmup BushCare Busybee! 🌿🧤

Tomorrow Sun17th May, 10-12ish, meet at Collingwood Rd tables.

We may:

- give the Bathurst Rd side some TLC targetting dolichos, watsonia, asparagus fern and vetch. - - - hunt Rock crevices for errant Watsonia resprouting

- tend reveg sites and

- Have your say on future plantings!

If you would like to share a 'little something' for morning tea it'll be gratefully accepted! 🙏🫖😊

Come for as little or long as you feel.

🌱🥾💚🌳

19/04/2026

Celebrating our Beautiful Barmup Trees for WA Tree Festival!!

On this perfect day, a merry lil gang of country caring enthusiasts relished a gentle stroll of our patch with Kynan, The City of Albany Reserves, sharing arboreal knowledges, with a bit of w**d ID & extraction on the side.

A couple of young karris were highlighted - unusual in this reserve, with a rich discussion of the cultural & geological significance of trees.

Propagation of local species, including Acacia cyclops & Xanthoreas, were cheerfully tended to, while another delicious morning tea was devoured with gratitude!

A huge "Thankyou" to all participants!

🙏🌱💚🌳

18/04/2026

🌱Hi Bushcarers! 🧤 Celebrate WA Tree Festival at our Busybee this Sunday 19/4 at Barmup/Kangas/Bluff! 10-12ish, meet at Collingwood Rd tables.
Join Kynan from CoA Reserves for a Trees of Barmup walk, & some propagation may be on offer too.
We can provide an update & info for the Western Ringtail Possum Tally from last night's awesome Spotlighting with Dr Bronte Van Helden.

Share your own special way to support our great Rock ecosystem, and your community of carers.

We could also:
- target SGW & asparagus fern below trail
- check on reveg
- clean up debris
- or your own personal TLC project!

Feel free to share a 'little something' for morning tea, but never required. Somehow it all magically works out!🙏
Weather's looking 'just right' 🤗 Byo gloves if you have them.
Come for as little or long as you feel.
🌱🥾💚🌳

https://www.albany.wa.gov.au/events/wa-tree-festival-2026-albany-events-program/86744

13/04/2026

Hi Bushcarers & friends,
Once again we are super excited and unbelievably fortunate to have Our Barmup Possum/Night Spotlighting walk & talk with local expert Bronte van Helden on Saturday 18th April, 6.30pm as part of the WA Tree Festival program of events.
This will also be for skilling up on the 2026 Annual Western Ringtail Possum Tally (even though it will be under way already - links to the Tally are also on the website below).
It booked out last year, and is free, so I recommend doing so soon... BYO headtorch if possible.
Nightspotting booking link is: https://albany-events.bookable.net.au/ #!/event-detail/ev_50e2dbd3526b4a0cbf8709c2989e758d
We may be also add other events such as guided walks on our usual busybee, Sunday 19th April, as well. (Please let us know if you'd like to lead one!)
One of our occasional Bushcarers, Yann Toussaint, is also presenting a terrific event "Designing with Local Plants" at the library - take a look!
There will also be a Native Plant Giveaway as part of the WA Tree Festival and Green Fair on the Square. Keep an eye on the City of Albany facebook and Instagram posts!
Festival details can be viewed here: https://www.cityofalbanyevents.com/wa-tree-festival
Native plant giveaway here:
https://www.albany.wa.gov.au/services/sustainability-and-waste/sustainability-and-waste-events/native-plant-giveaway.aspx

Find out about the City of Albany's event program for the WA Tree Festival! Happening from 10 April to 12 May 2025.

10/04/2026

Take part in the Annual Ringtail Possum Tally! 🧮

The Oyster Harbour Catchment Group Inc. are hosting the 2026 Annual Ringtail Tally. Running from the 1st April through to the 2nd May, the Tally involves members of the public counting the number of Western ringtail possums they see, or don’t see, on any given night in their local patch – this can be a backyard, or a small patch of bush nearby 🌳

The Tally occurs across 2 of the 3 remaining Western ringtail possum populations, and helps conservationists understand how the Critically Endangered species is tracking. You can submit as little as one survey per site, although 2 per week per site is the recommended best practice. Participants are also welcome to survey multiple sites if desired.

This year, the Tally is going online! Participants can submit a Tally survey on their phone or computer. This means if they complete more than one tally at a site, the second and subsequent entries will be quicker. To get involved and submit your Tally survey, follow this link: https://bit.ly/4bo8LNY

For more information about the Oyster Harbour Catchment Group, visit their website here: https://bit.ly/4cKol9a

24/03/2026

Hi All, if you are wondering what to do this weekend, maybe you can go help out down at the Lake Seppings Busy Bee 🐝😀

19/03/2026

It’s time to bid farewell to the Urban Possums Project (for now).

Over the last two years this project has achieved some incredible outcomes for the western ringtail possum, including native plant giveaways, population monitoring, numerous community workshops and even a research report (plus so much more). These efforts have made a real difference in supporting the recovery of this species within urban and peri-urban Albany.

While we are sad to see this project draw to a close, we think it deserves a proper celebration. We invite you to join us for a FREE End of Project Celebration, hosted at the Hilton on the 27th March (5:30-7:30pm) for a relaxed evening of short presentations about the western ringtail possum and all the work that has been completed through this project.

This event is free however RSVP is essential. Please reserve your seat here: https://events.humanitix.com/the-urban-possums-end-of-project-event

We look forward to seeing you there!

This event is part of the Urban Western Ringtail Possum project, which is a collaboration between South Coast NRM, Oyster Harbour Catchment Group, Torbay Catchment Group, UWA-Albany, City of Albany, Southern Aboriginal Corporation and Cat Laws and Wildlife Survival Group and is supported by South Coast NRM through funding from the Australian Government Saving Native Species Program.








– cat laws and wildlife survival

16/03/2026

Thanks to the small group of bushcarers that ventured out on Sunday for the Barmup / Bluff Rock Busy Bee 👍❤️🌱🌼

This small group, supported by Kynan from tackled Asparagus fern, Vinca and rubbish, then sat down to some morning tea, some of which was provided by Margaret who was unable to attend. It was very much appreciated 🙏

We would love to see some more carers next time as with some rain the w**ds won't be far away from sticking their heads up. 🌦️