In early February and March 2018, Dr Jackie Stroud, a Natural Environment Research Council Soil Security Fellow at Rothamsted Research, led a project to study the worms in farm soils. 126 farmers took part. They dug 10 pits in one field, each 20 cm x 20 cm x 20 cm, in one field. They counted the number of adult worms in the sample (adults are identified as those having a saddle on their bodies) and allocated them to one of three main types of earthworm. Each of these worm groups has a different function.
- Epigeic surface worms (the small, surface, red ones) break down surface litter and are a good source of food for native birds, such as thrushes and blackbirds.
- Endogeic topsoil worms (the medium, pale ones which are grey, pink or a darker green) mix soil and mobilise nutrients for plant uptake and so support crop productivity.
- Anecic, deep-burrowing large worms (larger pencil-sized ones which are heavily pigmented red or black) are the drainage worms which can form vertical burrows of up to 2m deep. These help with water infiltration and deep plant burrowing.
In April 2019, we conducted the same experiment over our ten plots, with a few teams adding a second count. Our results are below and make interesting reading. They are just a snapshot but they give us a baseline for further monitoring and discussion.
