08.04.18 - Burroughs Wood

This trip was my first to a new site which consists of two parts, half ancient woodland and the other newly planted areas approximately 20 years old. This visit only covered the old part, which was interesting. Although there are few large old trees there is a very good mixture of species, nearly all of which have been coppiced repeatedly, with some coppice of the stools several metres across. Importantly, there was lots of old dead wood on the ground! I mostly sampled under logs and was delighted to find Diplura and Symphyla abundant. Springtails were also abundant, mainly Lepidocyrtus lignorum and Pogonognathellus longicornis. Of most interest were a few Entomobrya nivalis (above), shaken from terrestrial moss. Nivalis means "of the snow", so having looked for this species all winter, I find it both amusing and ironic that the first time I find it is when the snow is gone.