Nature's Place

She, laying down a fissure in the bark.

You will see these pictures better if you click on them.

He, with a piece of leg missing. Could have been in battle – they do.

Looking out for his mate while she lays.

It probably died long ago, the tree, but only matured recently to the point it has become a hot spot for various species of insect.

I have seen how long hard wood takes to break down in our relatively dry climate, so expect this was an epic death, of the tree.

And as it broke down, the bark and the wood beneath, through time and exposure and ‘activity’, it attracted more varied species that lived off the work of the ones before.

These beetles, some kind of longhorn, are doing that. Either the larva will eat rotting wood, or eat other creature’s larva, and be eaten. If you wanted to know exactly what you could.

It’s how we once learned about nature, observation over long periods of time, no quick lab fixes then. And what we discovered was invariably practical to survival and well-being, our own nature.

We looked after what served us, and weren’t careless of the context it occurred in, minimising our footprint.

Haven’t we come a long way in our progression from the simple nature …

And it all occurs in space, inside and out.

© Mark Berkery ……. Click on those pictures for a closer look
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