Fieldwork as it happens

I posted last year about swarms of insects from the tips of our pines.  We have decided to try a few things to find out what, of an entomological nature, is going on in the soil beneath the trees.

This involved a bit of equipment.
 Most of this stuff was acquired from a supermarket (except the sledgehammer and the down-pipe offcuts) and probably totals in cost to about $20.

The down-pipe was persuaded to enter the ground ....
 ... and then filled with saline solution.
 After a short wait - mainly spent discussing cricket in the 1960s and 70s - the saline was sampled using a tea strainer and peered at under a microscope.
 A few live things were found beginning with this midge larva.
We will carry on this process a bit more to see what we can find!

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