the snake
Down South, things are different.
Things are bigger. Much bigger. Big skies, big hills (no mountains, only big hills)… and these.
OK, so in truth earthworms this size can be found in undisturbed soils in many parts of the country. I’d found them when I was a kid, both in the garden on the farm, occasionally, and more commonly out in the tussock country.
We’d found this one while doing some unscheduled maintenance of the water supply at the crib in Hawea: this was the most exciting find during several hours of digging (and as I have remarked elsewhere, if you want to find a buried pipe, dig at right angles to its direction if you want to actually find it – ok?).
As is customary, Rosa gave it a name – the very imaginative “Wormy” – and put it in its very own bucket of soil. And it really needed a whole bucket to itself too, all 40cm of it.
Worms really aren’t that exciting, I suppose, and it was forgotten about shortly afterwards. But I made sure to put it back close to where we found it, just before we left the crib for the farm.
Brian
13 February 2009, 14:39 #
We frequently find these things in our garden while doing any serious digging. They seem to like hiding in clay and in seriously wet soil – which we have an abundance of down next to the stream.
Alan
13 February 2009, 23:48 #
I wonder whether they actually “like” hiding there, or whether they naturally end up in areas you don’t dig in very often…?
Brian
15 February 2009, 20:55 #
Interesting question. One of the distinguishing features of the area where we tend to find them is that the soil there is best described as “undisturbed” – as you mentioned in the original posting The land down next to the stream has never suffered the indignity of having the topsoil scraped off by a bulldozer. It’s probably been in much the same state for hundreds if not thousands of years. Makes you feel kind of insignificant doesn’t it…
I’ve also noticed them in other parts of the garden, but only when digging unusually deep – for example when digging a post hole. In which case I tend to find them exactly where you wouldn’t expect them – in hard clay. The fact that I find them there never ceases to surprise me.
Mary
27 February 2009, 15:04 #
We found one of these in the town belt one day (just lying there on the walking track, almost dead). They are very impressive worms indeed.