Land Caddis II: The Sequel

This week’s venture was somewhat different to our usual outings in that it was aimed specifically at one species: the Land Caddis, Enoicyla pusilla, which we had unexpectedly discovered during our visit to this woodland on 26th November last year. We hoped the weather would be kind to us. On the whole it was; the rain held off and it was not too cold. On the other hand, light snow had fallen overnight and the morning was foggy.

Fortunately the snow was not substantial enough to be a problem but everything was sodden. Leaving the car park we set off on the route we took a few months ago, soon arriving at patches of Polytrichum moss. These failed to yield any Snow Fleas but did bring forth several bristletails.

photo: John Martin

Despite there only being a handful of British species, bristletails are fiendishly difficult to identify to species level. We can say that this one is a Dilta species, but no more.
 
A little further on one of the vacuums was applied to leaf litter lying at the side of the track. And hey presto - three Land Caddis larval cases appeared. The occupants refused to stick their heads out but it was clear what they were. They had roughly doubled in size since our last visit, these being a whopping 3 - 3.5mm long!    

We progressed to the small area of clearfell where the momentous discovery was made in November.

It soon became apparent that the species was still there in very good numbers, each sample containing multiple larvae. They remained steadfastly within their cases though unless they were picked up, the warmth bringing them out of their shells. This gave me an idea. I set my hand-warmer on its lowest setting, stowed it back inside its grey fabric pouch and placed two cases on top of it. Before long one was out and trundling about.

After a few photos I turned the warmer off and allowed it to cool before tipping the larvae back into the undergrowth.
 
Flushed with success we pitched camp and had lunch. Once we were rested and refuelled we decided to retrace our steps slightly to the main path, then followed it westwards, sampling as we went.

photo: Nigel Jones

Once again, each sample produced several larvae. Eventually it was realised that we were within striking distance of a monad boundary, so we pushed on until we had crossed it then sampled again. Two samples each produced a handful (literally) of larvae.

 A very pleasing result, which expands the known population in this woodland quite significantly. The area we investigated still only represents a small proportion of the total woodland though. I think we may have found a project for next winter!
 
Occupied though we were by our main target, we did allow ourselves to be distracted by some other finds. These included a very handsome rove beetle, Othius punctulatus 

photo: John Martin

Several ladybird species including Larch Ladybird

And a handsome Eyed Ladybird

Common Birds-foot

photo: John Martin

And Dicranum majus, an attractive moss.

photo:  John Martin

We turned and headed back to the car park feeling very pleased with ourselves. By this time even the weather was making an effort to join in, the clouds parting to give a hint of brightness. An excellent day.    

photo: John Martin

   
 
 
Photographs © the author except as noted.