Travels with a woodlouse

In the late afternoon I popped down into the damp woods to see what I could find. One of the best things was this large specimen of a bracket fungus, Fomes fomentarius, with a woodlouse travelling from left to right - better seen magnified.

This is a hard woody fungus that lives on the cellulose and lignin in dead timber, drawing its strength from the decaying substance of the tree as it weakens in parallel.

Fomes, or hoof fungus, is host to a number of specialised beetles but the woodlouse was the only inhabitant that made an appearance.