Found this on Bungalbin Hill

Submitted: Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 09:31
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On a recent trek to the Helena Aurora Range I spotted this set up on Bungalbin Hill and am wondering if anyone can enlighten me as to what this was used for? it is a number of plastic buckets buried in the ground with what appears to be a ring of fly wire.

Any info much appreciated
Cozzie

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Reply By: equinox - Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 09:37

Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 09:37
Hi Cozzie,

Maybe an old water trap.

Water molecules collect on the fly wire and then drain into the buckets.

Doesn't look in the best of condition.

Cheers
Alan

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Follow Up By: Member - Cozzie (WA) - Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 10:05

Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 10:05
Yeah could be Alan, I will have to check it out a bit more next time im up there.

Thanks
Cozzie
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Reply By: Member - Duncan W (WA) - Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 09:59

Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 09:59
Cozzie it's been there for 4 years as far as I know and we've pondered the reason for it. I think it's for capturing wildlife as we've found lizards stuck in it, (naughty me I set them free). Mind you there wasn't a lid on the bucket during the 3 trips I've done in the past, so could be as Alan suggests?

cheers

Dunc.
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Follow Up By: Member - Cozzie (WA) - Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 10:13

Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 10:13
Hi Dunc, a wildlife trap was our first thought, water collection also makes sense....Good onya for letting the little critters go free.

Thanks
Cozzie
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Follow Up By: Member - Bentaxle - Saturday, Oct 05, 2013 at 13:12

Saturday, Oct 05, 2013 at 13:12
Cozzie, Duncan is correct, they are/were part of a fauna investigation /census to catalogue species of that area. At one stage there was an application to mine Bungalbin Hill for its iron ore and these traps were part of the process to quash this application.
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Follow Up By: get outmore - Saturday, Oct 05, 2013 at 15:43

Saturday, Oct 05, 2013 at 15:43
possible but highly doubtfull Bentaxle

far more likely the flora and fauna survey was actually commisioned by the mining company.

Ive got all sorts of flora and fauna survey results done by consultants for various minesites ive worked on

even where I am now they guy actually did a display of the animals - many which were causght in pit traps like that one before returning them to thier original location.

People that arnt in the know to that sort of thing always wonder why company's always want to put minesites where theres rare flora or fauna but the fact is the vast majority of surveys are actually done by the mining companies and there the ones that discover the rare flora or fauna in the area - meanwhile the pastoralist has had his sheep and goats trampelling and eating them for years (often the whole reason they are rare)
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Follow Up By: get outmore - Saturday, Oct 05, 2013 at 15:58

Saturday, Oct 05, 2013 at 15:58
and a little bit of googling finds it to be so

it seems the last government comisioned fauna survey was done over 30 years ago.

theres much more intrest in the flora of the ironstone ranges as due to the distances between them and arid environment plant species can produce unique sub species such as the species of tetratheca around the die hardy ranges. Animals translocate much more readily although there have been cases such as unique spiders found by cliffs mining around koolynobbing



2010: A Troglofauna survey was conducted at sites within the Hunt Range, one site 'near' Helena and Aurora Range (south of the main range) and some sites along Mount Finnerty Range by Bennelongia Pty Ltd for Polaris Metals Pty Ltd.

Reference:

Bennelongia Environmental Consultants (2011) Yilgarn Iron Ore Project: Troglofauna Surveys. Report prepared by Andrew Trotter for Polaris Metals Pty Ltd, August 2011, Report 2011/119.
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Follow Up By: get outmore - Saturday, Oct 05, 2013 at 16:17

Saturday, Oct 05, 2013 at 16:17
sorry it seems the last fauna survey at bungalbin hill done for the DEC of Calm was in the mid 90s not actually 20 years ago as I said more like 18 years ago
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Reply By: rocco2010 - Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 11:18

Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 11:18
Gidday

It is a wildlife trapping site, installed as part of environmental survey work. when in use the wire is stood up like a fence, the lids removed from the buckets and small marsupials and reptiles out and about run into the fence, along it and into the bucket. When the survey is being done the traps are checked first thing every morning, the animals recorded and released. The trap lines are often removed after a few years when it seems unlikely the site will be revisited, otherwise they are left as you found it for the next survey.

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Follow Up By: rocco2010 - Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 11:25

Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 11:25
And another thing ... Did you only find one bucket? These things are usually set out in lines, usually five buckets in a line, 10m apart. A typical DEC (as it was when I worked on these projects) site would have two lines about 50m apart. One survey I volunteered on at Neale junction a few years ago had about 30 sites. Fair big of digging went in to setting that up and when we finished we will pulled it all out. Hundreds of buckets and miles of wire to roll up,
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Follow Up By: Member - Duncan W (WA) - Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 15:09

Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 15:09
Rocco the one I know about looked like it hadn't been inspected for some time as the bucket had a large amount of spiders webs in it as well. Also there wasn't any tell tale signs of human activity leading up to it. There was only one trap as well that I spotted.

Since my last visit and Cozzie's recent visit it looks like the site has been reestablished. Could be due to the impending mining activity in the range which has been the subject of some protest.
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Follow Up By: rocco2010 - Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 15:26

Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 15:26
Hello Duncan

I guess it depends what sort of surveying they are doing, who was doing it and how often. Probably depends on funding and what the priorities in the region are. The projects I have worked on at places like lake mason and Lorna Glen, they were doing surveys twice a year. You would go out, open up the traps, clean them out. And then check them every day for a week. Quite exciting in a way, particularly when you found something that might be a bit rare or dangerous like a snake! The drill when you left was to try and push the fence flat, put the lids on the buckets and cover with some earth. But I guess over a year or so the soil could get washed or blown away and the fence damaged by bigger animals.

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Follow Up By: Member - Cozzie (WA) - Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 16:12

Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 16:12
Hi Rocco thanks for the info,

There were 4 or 5 buckets some with lids and some of the fence was held down with rocks, it sure is a great place to visit we also found a geocache up there.

Thanks
Cozzie
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 17:42

Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 17:42
Hi...are you saying some of the buckets (pit traps) didn't have lids? Are you sure there was no one checking them daily?

If they are all suppose to be shut, but aren't, mining company/DPaW should be notified as animals will continue to get caught and die - not good.

Cheers
Greg

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Follow Up By: Member - Cozzie (WA) - Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 20:26

Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 20:26
Greg the buckets without lids were full of rocks so if any critters were to get in theres no way they would get trapped, and there was no one there checking them either.

Cheers
Cozzie
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 20:37

Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 20:37
Ok...still sounds slightly sus. Some "critters" e.g. small skinks with reduced/no legs (for example - sand swimming skinks - Leristas) can't climb...so a bucket full of rocks (with no soil) is still a trap....lid is best option.

On similar subject worst thing are open drill holes !! Never ending death trap.

Cheers
Greg
I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874

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Follow Up By: get outmore - Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 22:01

Thursday, Oct 03, 2013 at 22:01
If you find open drill holes its usually not hard to find the lease holder and inform them. Any company worth thier salt take unrehabbed holes seriously even legecy ones and will rectify them
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Follow Up By: AlanTH - Friday, Oct 04, 2013 at 08:49

Friday, Oct 04, 2013 at 08:49
From what I've seen in numerous trips to gold country there are uncountable numbers of drill holes and old shafts left open. Terrible risk to anyone especially small kids and animals but I doubt anyone cares until the worst happens.
Quite possible that when a person disappears in that sort of country they could well have slipped and gone down an old shaft.
AlanH.
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Follow Up By: Member - Cozzie (WA) - Sunday, Oct 06, 2013 at 11:21

Sunday, Oct 06, 2013 at 11:21
Thanks for all the replies, a wealth of information right here on this Forum... its a beauty.

Thanks
Cozzie
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