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Tag Archives: woodlice

Log diving

13 Wednesday Jan 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects

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Tags

anthropods, Common shiny woodlouse, Common striped woodlouse, crustaceans, life under logs, millipede, Oniscus asellus, Philoscia muscorum, woodlice

It was grey and gloomy, the frost had knocked over the wildflowers I was hoping to find, and the birds were quiet in the trees, so where should I turn for wildlife? A spot of log diving was called for and, sure enough, the under-log dwellers didn’t disappoint. I found millipedes, which are probably one of the Polydesmus species but I can’t be sure …

210113 millipede polydesmus sp

And several Common shiny woodlice (Oniscus asellus) …

210113 Common shiny woodlouse

And also a Common striped woodlouse (Philoscia muscorum), not a species I’d noticed before, and this one was a bit shy about being photographed … but it had a very impressive rear end!

210113 Common striped woodlouse (1)
210113 Common striped woodlouse (2)

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Under the log

29 Saturday Dec 2018

Posted by sconzani in fungi, insects, molluscs, nature, slugs, winter

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#7DaysofWildChristmas, brain fungi, Catinella olivacea, Cogan Wood, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, earthworms, Harvestman, orange slime, slugs, snails, turning over logs, woodlice

The weather was back to grey and drizzly again today so I donned my wet weather gear and headed to Cogan Wood to spend part of day 5 of my #7DaysofWildChristmas challenge turning over a few rotten logs and branches. And what did I find lurking there?

Woodlice; snails both long and rotund; earthworms; luscious balls of orange slime; tiny globular balls that looked like the eggs of something or other; pale little lumps of White or Crystal brain fungi; slugs brown and black; a stripey legged Harvestman; miniscule white mushrooms adorned with drops of water; a young centipede or millipede – I can never be quite sure which is which; dark little cup fungi, black with olive rims (Catinella olivacea) – very pleased with that find; and various other things, the photographs of which were either out of focus or too grainy due to the poor light conditions in the woodland. There’s nothing quite like getting wild and muddy – it was fun!

181229 under the log (11)

181229 under the log (1)
181229 under the log (2)
181229 under the log (3)
181229 under the log (4)
181229 under the log (5)
181229 under the log (6)
181229 under the log (7)
181229 under the log (8)
181229 under the log (9)
181229 under the log (10)

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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Recent blog posts

  • Winter rusts January 15, 2021
  • Turn, turn, turn January 14, 2021
  • Log diving January 13, 2021
  • Ash key fungi January 12, 2021
  • Hungry Marsh tits January 11, 2021

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