Willoughby Park Flowers in Bloom

I wrote recently about Barrie Oldfield, one of my heroes. Barrie is one of those people who believes that everyone can do something and he’s spent his long life doing things to make things better, to bring change and to help people. He’s an inspiration and I love him very much. In my post, I wrote about how Barrie had photographed 87 different wildflower species in a tiny 0.2ha patch of forest near where he lives in the Perth Hills in Western Australia. I visited Barrie there recently and we recorded a lovely podcast in the forest that, by virtue of Barrie’s efforts, has now become a small reserve called Willoughby Park. There had been recent rain so some of the wildflowers had come into bloom. Barrie had great joy in telling me about them and sharing wonderful stories about his meeting with Richard St Barbe Baker, Founder of Men of the Trees. I’d be thrilled if you spent a moment to listen to my chat with Barrie.

Just today Barrie has shared with me a lovely You Tube video that he has compiled with his beautiful flower portraits. Another of Barrie’s passions is music and he has enhanced the magic of the flowers with ‘A Song Before Sunrise’ by Frederick Delius.

Barrie's 6-minute video is below. Do watch it and if you can, imagine an 80-year-old man, not without health issues, on his hands and knees amongst the trees, taking photos that would ultimately be the difference between a destroyed patch of bush and new forest reserve.

What small thing can we each do, like Barrie, to save some forest, help some animals, or, for heaven’s sake, even help some people?

Everyone can do something, right Barrie?