The past few days I've been working on seasonal cleanups under the redwood trees down the drive here at Struan Farm. It's a nice shaded area, and we've had a heat wave this week, so it's been a good job to avoid the hot, direct sun.
I'm raking up heaps of dried redwood "fronds," for lack of a more technical term, also weeding. During my raking I uncovered an absolutely HUGE earthworm, which prompted me to go grab my phone to take a quick photo before it wriggled away. Also to do some homework to try to learn more.
This worm was about 12 inches long, and very fat! It looks to be a native variety, of which there are 171 different "Megascolecidae" species (23 non-native "Lumbricidae"). The former tend to hang out in native bush and tussock. It looks like we must have enough native trees in this part of the property to attract the natives, which this one looks like. Read more if you're interested here. Apparently they can get as long as 1 1/2 metres, I'm relieved I didn't uncover one of those.
Struan Farm: where one continues to learn things, even about earthworms!
Comments