Dancing in the sunshine...

I have to admit I'm getting a bit obsessed with mosses! It was a gloriously sunny morning, perfect to take the camera up to Old Sulehay. There's plenty of dead wood in the forest, and the logs and stumps provided some good photo-opportunities. But I had even more fun in the quarry, scrabbling around on my hands and knees among the rocks. 

I was torn between beauty and interest tonight, but I couldn't resist the intense colours of these sporophytes of Wall Screw-moss Tortula muralis, which looked like dancing flames. This is another very common species, almost certainly growing on a wall  or roof near you.

The interest came from looking under stones. I found a tiny whitish creature that looked very like a baby centipede. When I showed the image to Pete he said it was a member of the Symphyla, also known as garden centipedes or pseudocentipedes, but probably more closely related to millipedes (Myriapoda). So, a whole new Class of arthropods to me!!

I also found a nest of Yellow Meadow-ants Lasius flavus that were carefully tending a colony of root aphids, one of which was secreting honeydew. They farm root aphids for sugar (honeydew) and nitrogen (protein). In turn these species of aphids have developed distinctive traits never found in free living species such as the ‘trophobiotic organ’ to hold honey dew for the ants. During winter, the aphids themselves are eaten. As a consequence of their feeding habits, the species is seldom seen, although the large ant-hills they create are a very characteristic feature of old meadows.