Wednesday, 9 May 2012

Ant woodlouse and more

In the rare intervals of sunshine in the last few weeks, visits to the Rectangle have proved quite rewarding.  On one occasion I found the lacebug Physatocheila dumetorum, seemingly the first East Sussex record for over 100 years.  Among the plants there are several small stands of Atrichum undulatum, a moss with something of the Carboniferous era about it.

20120507 Lawn rectangle Atricum undulatum (14)

The first grass, annual meadow grass, Poa annua, has reached anthesis.

20120507 Lawn rectangle Poa annua (11)

By the lip of the pitfall trap was one ant woodlouse, Platyarthrus hoffmannseggi.  This very small, blind creature spends all its life in or near ants' nests, where it probably lives as a scavenger.  It is the first time I have found it in our garden.

20120508 Lawn Platyarthrus Ant woodlouse (17a)

Already an interesting dimension of this project is beginning to emerge: I am finding many things that I have never seen in the Square Metre project perhaps only 50 metres away and which I have been scrutinising regularly for nearly nine years.

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