Ruud Kleinpaste: Autumn holes in the ground

Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

A few days ago, we celebrated our Autumn Equinox; that was on Wednesday 20th March at 16:06 to be precise.

It really has nothing to do with this story, apart from the fact that you'll notice quite a few good-looking holes in your lawn around this time of the year. It shows you that life-cycles either come to an end or change from one phase to the next.

A good example is the mess made by starlings in my lawn: hundreds of sizeable holes per square metre really stands out.

Autumn rain has finally made the soil quite wet; Grassgrub larvae (juveniles) are moving upwards in the soil to avoid being drowned and starlings literally probe the soil for tasty grubs. I'm not that worries: these starlings provide a gratis pest-control service.

On soils where there are few plants (think of those "naked" vertical clay banks) you'll often find medium-sized round holes with an opening that looks "counter-sunk" in shape.

This is the job of our native tiger beetles. When they are larvae they create these tunnels into the soil and block the entrance with their head, while waiting for suitable prey to walk past.

From now on, you'll notice that the holes are open - the larvae will finalise their juvenile stages underground and emerge in late spring as fast-moving adult beetles.

And from now on there will be critters that come out of the soil, especially after good rain events. Earthworms will move up easily to grab some organic material from the surface of the soil and to drop some casts off on top! These worms are recyclers and literally live off of the dead plant material (and other natural waste, such as animal droppings). This planet is perfectly designed in and around our soil.

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