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Marsupials, reptiles, amphibians, insects, molluscs, arachnids, scientists and teachers.

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Tanya Charsley

Day 5 | Tanya Charsley | Esperance Primary School

My day began early, with a trip out with the herpetology team to check the pit fall traps. After a quick drive to Cape Le Grand we checked the first traplines that had been set up 2 weeks ago. Because the traps catch lizards, frogs and the occasional Honey Possum, it is important to get to them early before the animals get too hot and distressed in the bucket traps. In every trap we found Banjo Frogs, Moaning Frogs, and an occasional Quacking Frog. We helped the scientists tally up each different species. Handling frogs is really tricky – they are slimy and slippery and wriggly, but 100% captivating. We also found some Honey Possums that had fallen in the traps. Tiny, with striped fur and a long snout perfectly adapted for feeding from flowers they were a crowd favourite. We took lots of photos and then set them free. We checked another set of traps, adding some lizards and skinks to our growing list of different species. 

Heading back to camp we passed Jeremy, the spider specialist, so we turned around and followed him to one of the standard survey sites. The teams used maps, Google Earth and local knowledge from Aboriginal Elder Doc Reynolds to find habitats suited to their particular areas of study. However, there are also Standard Survey sites. All teams are required to survey these places, to build a complete biodiversity catalogue in specific locations. It was great to go back to the same place I had been earlier in the week with the botany team. This time I was tasked with turning over rocks to find spiders, pseudoscorpions and scorpions! I managed to find an unusual spider from a large family known as Brush Footed Trap Doors, which was collected and taken back to the lab for ID. But the excitement did not end there. Working nearby were the land snail enthusiasts (yep, it’s a thing) who were super excited to find a rare land snail. Their woops of excitement were infectious so I decided to join them in the hunt. I was lucky enough to find 2 more snail shells, which I proudly presented to the mollusc specialists. However on the way back to the cars, Spider Guy Jeremy spotted a large trap door, completely camouflaged in the leaf litter on the side of the track. He immediately got out his tools and began a 40 minute dig to carefully extract a HUGE female trap door spider from a 65cm deep den. When he finally brought her into the light to show the crowd of onlookers, we were all entranced by her size and beauty. It was easily the biggest, fattest, blackest, hairiest spider I have ever seen - I had no idea that spiders of that size lived in Esperance. Another top day at BushBlitz, Check out the photos!

Tanya day5