Wild Windellama july 2005

Huntsman Spiders

Huntsman spiders in Australia belong to the Family Sparassidae and are the large
hairy spiders that are often seen either under bark or other narrow spaces outside
the home or they are just as comfortable inside scooting along your walls.There are 13 genera
and 94 described species of Huntsmans but even though sometimes wrongly called Tarantula
they are very timid and relatively harmless to humans, a bite from one of these spiders
is supposed to be a little painful but not poisonous, you would have to be very unlucky
to be bitten as they always prefer to escape than fight.

The spider in the photo with this story seemed to be very happy taking refuge in our
hallway and we generally tolerate their presence in our home, they often come in when
there is rain about so probably just trying to stay dry and they never give us much
of a problem. If you really can't stand them in the home the best way to catch them
 is to simply place large plastic cup or similar over the top then slide a piece of cardboard 
underneath and take the whole lot out into the garden.
This is much easier than cleaning a squashed spider off your wall.

The mother Huntsman lays about 200 eggs into her silken egg sac and stands guard over it
until her young are hatched, after the spiderlings hatch the family stays together for a few
 weeks until they go their seperate ways, 200 children would certainly wear anyone out.

Low frequency industrial noise has been a problem in many areas of the western world over the last 40 years or so,
it is not the sort of noise that you can get away from by closing a door, it seems to come from all directions and is
often described as sounding like a distant diesel engine, throbbing or pulsing of the noise can be a feature.
Scientific studies have shown it is not caused by Tinitus or any other health issue related to hearing.
At first you may need to conciously listen for the hum, at night is the easiest time as other background noises are less
and it is just at the threshold of the lowest tones that you can hear, once you are familiar with it, it can be a
real nuisance.

When these noises have been a problem for a community they have been given names such as the "Taos Hum"
for the noise heard in Taos, New Mexico or the "Bristol Hum " in Bristol in the U.K.

There is a hum problem in Windellama, the cause is still unknown but it is being heard by a number of
households that I know of. It is NOT a local noise. The E.P.A. have already done some preliminary
testing with conventional noise logging equipment and the results were inconclusive.

The Hum can be present for a week or two, 24 hours per day and then dissapear for a few days then for some reason
return. If you think you are experiencing the Windellama Hum please contact me on 0248445149 or by email
as we need a bit more evidence of the presence of the Hum before the EPA will return to do more testing with their
new low frequency noise logger.