Friday 3rd November 2023

During a very wet nature club session, we learnt all about worms.  Sometimes our most taken for granted wildlife can be surprisingly interesting.  We have about 31 species of worms in the UK, but only see about three of them.  We started off with the UK’s biggest which can burrow down as much as two metres and can grow as long as 40cm: Anecic worms.  They rarely appear above ground, but we talked about their casts.  Next was the endogeic which are slightly smaller and about a metre down, but much paler than the anecic.  Then came the epi-endogeic which they probably have seen when they look under leaves or lift up rotting wood.  They are less pale and about half the size of the Anecic.  Finally, we talked about the epigeic which live in leaf litter and have very pigmented skin.  Our compost worms would fall into this category.  They are the smallest, most colourful worms and compost the leaf litter the quickest.  They are all detritivores- they feed on dead matter and they are also hermaphrodite- which we talked about.  We did have a quick check on our worms which are looking industrious- a little bit of compost has already been created, but it will be at least 3 months before we get a sufficient amount.  There was just about enough time to gather some herbs for the children to use at home-more about that next week-and some leaf art!