Woodlouse

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 I have been doing a bit of tidying up in the garden over the last couple of days. Every time I turn over a stone I find a woodlouse.


I am saying that this one is a common shiny woodlouse. Woodlice go by a number of names in different parts of the country. When I lived in Scotland they were always referred to as "slaters". Woodlice are crustaceans that have evolved from marine creatures that originated in the Devonian period. There is still something primitive about them. Woodlice have 7 pairs of jointed legs and a segmented body which they have to moult to grow out of. The moult is unusual in that they lose the back part of the shell first and then a couple of days later they shed the front part.Woodlice need moist environments because they rapidly lose water- they live in damp dark places under logs and stones. In the British Isles there are 35 species in ten families. Woodlice feed on dead organic matter and speed up decomposition. Females have a brood pouch to carry eggs and the developing young. Pub quiz fact - woodlouse poo is rectangular!

Diary
Still very dry. A large dark coloured stoat ( a male?) spotted in the garden. Its an "in between" time of the year - summer migrant birds have departed and the winter migrants haven't arrived yet. One or two of the trees are starting to turn colour - the Rowan trees seem to be the first.


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