Wood Borers

Wood Borers

Posted on: 31/01/2015

Saturday January 31st 2015
I may well have mentioned this before but there is an aspect to winter in the land of log fire heating, that really gives me a headache: logs are just full of life. From wood-boring beetle larvae and tiny springtails to hibernating caterpillars and spiders in nooks and crannies. I refuse to kill any creature out of simple laziness so cutting and chopping logs can take more time than one would imagine because I check each piece for signs of life before putting them on the log pile.

This longhorn larva has to be the luckiest creature in the world. The chainsaw cut straight through its gallery and shaved the hairs off its nether regions but without causing any injury whatsoever. It is now living safely in the studio, inside enough log to keep it going until it pupates.