Paul's Back Garden Safari

Found this little chappie wondering around the floor of the downstairs toilet the other day. A little bit of detective work on the web and using the few books insect reference books that detail woodlice, I was able to make a tentative identification and name him a common rough woodlouse. That is not demeaning him in anyway, but that's his common name. He also goes by the much more impressive name of Porcellio scaber. Common rough woodlice are considered native to mainland Europe, but has spread throughout the world, including onto isolated islands such as Hawaii and Marion Island (located between Africa and Antarctica) and is found on every continent, excluding Antarctica. This spread has probably been aided by export of plant material. Part their success could be due to the wide range of habitats they live in. They live under leaf litter, rocks, and fallen logs in forests, meadows, and gardens, and are frequently found in splash zones, dunes and salt marshes. Th...

Last night there was much consternation and gnashing of teeth from the front room as my daughter settled down to watch Celebrity Big Brother as a large spider crawled up the wall in front of her. I springing immediately into action, but only after I had taken a few photos, but the pressure was definitely on to "get it out of here!". It is one of three or four possible Tenegaria species, though there are 11 species that occur in the UK and Northern Europe (1). All of which are very similar and can only be identified to species by genitalia. With no microscope of any idea of what I should be looking all I can do for now is get it to genus, confirmed via iSpot. However, judging by the palps it is a female. The most likely species it could are: Tegeneria domestica (Common House Spider), body size up to 10mm. This is perhaps the most common but smallest of there species. Although virtually reliant on people's houses, this species can be found in cave entrances and inside hollo...

I took part in there BTO Early Bird Survey this morning. The purpose of the survey is to build on observations from the Shortest Day Survey, and will investigate what effect, if any, light and heat pollution have on the feeding patterns of birds during a cold winter’s morning.  The BTO Shortest Day Survey took place on 21st December 2004 and was promoted by BBC Radio 4 via the Today Programme. Some 5,460 responses were received from participants and these were used to determine patterns in the arrival of birds at garden feeders. The pattern of arrival, on average, was: The BTO researchers then examined the arrival patterns in relation to a number of factors, including relative eye size and local habitat, in order to establish whether there was anything that determined when birds first arrived at feeding stations. They found that there was a negative correlation between eye size and time of arrival at garden feeders across species, and that this relationship remained significant whe...