How do squirrels help new oak trees grow? Why is a woodpecker pecking a hole in a tree trunk? And why are fungi that grow in the

woods good at recycling? Inside this book, explore a woodland and discover how all the living things that make it their home

depend on each other and their habitat for survival.

by Ruth Owen

Ruby T

uesday B

ooks

Welcom

e to the Woodland

Ru

th O

wen

Living Things and Their Habitats

Titles in this series

• Welcome to the Garden

• Welcome to the Pond

• Welcome to the Rock Pool

• Welcome to the Woodland

ISBN: 978-1-910549-75-9

9 781910 549759

£6.99

by Ruth Owen

Welcome to the Woodland ..........................................................4

Acorns, Shoots, Leaves and Roots ..............................................6

Tree Trunk Nests .............................................................................8

Life Beneath the Trees ................................................................ 10

The Woods at Night ................................................................... 12

Woodland Minibeasts ................................................................. 14

Hungry Babies .............................................................................. 16

Becoming Part of the Woodland ............................................. 18

Woodland Fungi .......................................................................... 20

A Carpet of Moss ........................................................................ 22

A Time for Seeds .......................................................................... 24

Autumn in the Woods ................................................................. 26

Winter Comes Around............................................................... 28

A Woodland Food Web .............................................................. 30

Glossary ........................................................................................ 31

Index, Learn More Online.......................................................... 32

ContentsContents

Words shown in bold in the text are explained in the glossary .

Published in 2016 by Ruby Tuesday Books Ltd.

Copyright © 2016 Ruby Tuesday Books Ltd.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Editor: Mark J. SachnerDesigner: Emma RandallConsultant: Judy Wearing, PhD, BEdProduction: John Lingham

Photo creditsAlamy: 25, 27 (top); Corbis: 18 (top); FLPA: 9 (right), 11 (bottom), 12–13, 16 (left), 17, 28; Public Domain: 14; Shutterstock: Cover, 2–3, 4–5, 6–7, 8, 9 (left), 10, 11 (top), 15, 16 (right), 18 (bottom), 19, 20–21, 22–23, 24, 25 (bottom left), 26, 27 (bottom), 29, 30–31.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data (CIP)is available for this title.

ISBN 978-1-910549-75-9

Printed in India

www.rubytuesdaybooks.com

54

Welcome to the WoodlandWho and what lives in the woods?

This habitat is home to trees, moss and fungi.

The residents of this habitat include squirrels, birds, spiders and other animals.

Welcome to the Woodland A woodland is

a type of ecosystem. An ecosystem includes all the living things in

an area. It also includes non-living things such as soil, rocks, sunlight and rain. Everything in an ecosystem has its own

part to play.

So let’s find out what happens in this natural habitat……welcome to the woodland!

Every living thing in the woodland gets what it needs to live from its habitat.

6

Acorns, Shoots, Leaves and Roots

Acorns, Shoots, Leaves and Roots

It’s spring in the woods, and fat buds are growing on the branches of trees.

When the buds burst open, leaves uncurl from inside.

If you visit

a woodland, you might not notice the

soil. Without it, however, the trees and other plants could not live. Plants take

in water and nutrients from soil through

their roots.

In what ways do you think the trees in the woodland are helpful to animals?

Rainwater soaks into the soil.

Oak tree leaves

Bud

7

An acorn is buried in the soil.

Once the spring sunshine warms the soil, a shoot starts to grow.

Within a few weeks, the shoot grows into an oak tree seedling.

Once the oak tree is fully grown, it may live for hundreds of years!

Acorn

Shoot

Seedling

These tree roots grow deep into the soil.

98

Tree Trunk NestsTree Trunk NestsPeck. Peck. Peck. A female woodpecker is pecking a nest hole in a tree trunk.

Her partner helps with the work.

Once the nest is ready, the woodpecker will lay her eggs inside.

In another tree trunk, a squirrel has found a cosy hole and made it her nest.

Where else do animals live in a woodland?

Nest hole

Inside the nest, she gives birth to four tiny babies, called kits.

She feeds the kits with milk from her body.

Parent woodpeckers

take it in turn to sit on their eggs. The eggs must be kept warm so the

chicks inside can grow.

Woodpecker

Mother squirrel feeding kits

1110

A slow worm hunts for slugs, worms and insects under logs and fallen leaves.

What other animals hunt for food in the woods at night?

Many woodland animals live on the ground beneath the trees.

Deer move quietly through the woods, feeding on leaves, shoots, grasses, berries, seeds and fungi.

Life Beneath the TreesLife Beneath the Trees

Deer

10 11

Slow worms

look like small snakes, but they

are actually legless lizards. They

grow to about 50 cm long.

Entrance to sett

Slow worm

Badgers dig large underground homes called setts.

As night falls, a badger family leaves its sett to search for worms to eat.

Badger

1312

The Woods at NightAs night falls, many woodland creatures go looking for food.

The Woods at Night

What do ants use for building nests in a woodland?

A tawny owl hunts for mice, frogs and small birds.

She catches a mouse and feeds it to her chick.

Bats fly through the darkness hunting for moths and tiny flies called gnats.

Dormouse

Bat

Tawny owl

A bat can eat 3000

gnats in one night!

Berries

A tiny dormouse clambers through tree branches searching for buds, seeds, berries and insects.

Chick

1514

Woodland MinibeastsWoodland Minibeasts

The mound

above a wood ant nest keeps the nest

warm and protects it from rain. The mound is made

from the needle-like leaves of evergreen trees, small

twigs, dried grass and moss.

A woodland is home to millions of insects and spiders.

What woodland birds are hunting for insects to feed to their chicks?

Wolf spiders hunt insects by hiding on the woodland floor and then pouncing on their prey.

Grasshopper

Wood ants build an underground nest of tunnels and rooms.

Above the nest they build a huge mound of material they find in the woodland.

A nest may be home to 250,000 ants!

Wood ant

Wolf spider

Nest mound

17

Hungry BabiesHungry Babies

Squirrels eat leaves,

shoots, roots, flowers and seeds.

They also feed on tree bark and fungi.

The squirrel kits are now seven weeks old.

When their mother leaves the nest to find food, the kits go, too.

In the tree hole nest, the woodpecker chicks have hatched from their eggs.

The parent woodpeckers catch insects to feed to the chicks.

The adult woodpeckers eat insects and seeds.

When a woodland animal dies, what do you think happens to its body? 1716

A squirrel kit eating fungi

Fungi

Father woodpecker

Nest

Woodpecker chick

1918

A deer has died in the woods.

Now, the deer’s body will become food for other animals.

A fox visits the body and eats some meat.

Flies and beetles lay their eggs on the body.

Fungi help with recycling in a woodland. What do you think they recycle?

Becoming Part of the WoodlandBecoming Part of the Woodland

18 19

When fly and beetle larvae hatch from the eggs, they feed on the body, too.

In time, the body breaks down and rots until all that’s left are bones.

Tiny bits of

a rotting body get mixed into the soil.

They add nutrients to the soil that plants need to grow and be healthy.

Plants take in the nutrients with

their roots.

Fly larvae

Some types

of fungi grow on dead wood. Others grow on live trees, and some

grow in soil. Many fungi are poisonous. So never touch fungi you see growing in

a woodland, field or any other outdoor

place. What tiny plant grows on tree trunks, branches, rotting logs and rocks?

When a tree dies, fungi, such as mushrooms, grow on the tree.

The fungi get nutrients from the dead tree.

2120

Woodland FungiWoodland Fungi As fungi spread and feed on a dead tree, they make the wood rot and become crumbly.

In time, the rotting wood becomes part of the soil.

When the wood is recycled into soil, it adds nutrients that living trees and other plants need.

Dead, rotting tree trunk

Fungi

Fungi

2322

What do the woodland trees produce in summer?

Water bear

In a cool, damp woodland, moss grows on many trees, logs and rocks.

A carpet-like covering of moss is made up of thousands of tiny plants.

Moss is useful to many woodland creatures.

Insects and spiders take shelter in moss.

Mice, birds and other animals collect soft moss to put in their nests.

Moss

A Carpet of Moss A Carpet of Moss

Each individual moss plant has a single stem and tiny leaves.

Water bears,

or moss piglets, are microscopic animals

that live in moss. A clump of moss the size of a muffin can be home

to 100,000 of these creatures!

Mouse

2524

Squirrels bury acorns

and other seeds in the ground. In winter, when it’s hard to find seeds, they dig up this stored food. Squirrels

don’t find all the seeds, though, so many grow into new

trees.

What else drops from trees in autumn?

It’s late summer, and the trees in the woodland have grown seeds.

Acorns drop from the oak trees.

Some of the seeds will one day grow into new trees.

Others become food for mice, squirrels, deer and birds.

Acorns

A Time for Seeds A Time for Seeds

Acorn

A squirrel burying an acorn

Spiky case

Chestnut seed

Shiny, brown chestnut tree seeds fall to the ground inside spiky cases.

2726

What do you think the woodland deer eat in the winter?

When autumn arrives, the leaves on many trees turn yellow, orange, red and brown.

Soon, the leaves start to fall from the trees.

Autumn in the Woods Autumn in the Woods Millipedes on the ground munch on dead leaves.

Their leafy poo, which is filled with nutrients, gets mixed into the soil.

In time, the autumn leaves will rot and become new soil.

Some of

the trees are evergreens. These

trees don't lose all their leaves, or needles, in autumn. Instead, they lose and regrow some

of their leaves all year round.

Millipede

Evergreen tree needles

2928

During winter, many

of the woodland trees look as if they

have died. They are just resting, though.

In spring, they will grow new shoots

and leaves.

Winter Comes AroundWinter Comes AroundIt’s winter and snow is falling in the woodland.

There’s not much to eat, so deer nibble on twigs and tree bark.

A squirrel digs in the snow.

It’s looking for buried acorns and other seeds.

For now the woodland is still and white.But soon it will be spring again….

3130

Plants

make the food they need for

energy and growth in their leaves. To do this they need

sunlight.

The arrows mean: eaten by

evergreen Having green leaves all year round.

fungi A group of living things that includes mushrooms, toadstools and moulds.

habitat The place where living things, such as animals and plants, live and grow. Woodlands, gardens and deserts are all types of habitats.

larva A young insect that looks like a worm.

microscopic Able to be seen only with a microscope, not with the eyes alone.

nutrient A substance that a living thing needs to grow, get energy and be healthy.

prey An animal that is hunted by other animals for food.

shoot A new part that grows on a plant or from a seed. Shoots can become new stems or leaves.

A food web shows who eats who in a habitat.

This food web diagram shows the connections between some of the living things in a woodland.

Spiders

Plants

A Woodland Food WebA Woodland Food Web GlossaryGlossary

Fungi

Dormice

Owls Foxes

Deer

Insects

Squirrels

Woodpeckers

Bats

www.rubytuesdaybooks.com

978-1-911341-51-2 978-1-911341-52-9 978-1-911341-53-6 978-1-910549-72-8

978-1-910549-73-5 978-1-911341-54-3 978-1-910549-74-2 978-1-910549-75-9

Titles in this seriesTitles in this seriesTitles in this series

32

IndexIndexIndexIndexA acorns 6–7, 24–25, 29 ants 13, 15

B badgers 11 bats 13, 30 birds 4, 8, 13, 15, 16, 23, 25, 30

D deer 10, 18–19, 25, 27, 28, 30 dormice 12, 30

F foxes 18, 30 fungi 4, 10, 17, 19, 20–21, 30

I insects 11, 12–13, 14–15, 16, 18–19, 23, 30

M mice 13, 23, 25 millipedes 27 moss 4, 15, 22–23

N nests 8–9, 13, 15, 16–17, 23

O owls 13, 30

S seeds 7, 10, 12, 16–17, 24–25, 29 slow worms 11 soil 5, 6–7, 19, 21, 27 spiders 4, 14, 23, 30

squirrels 4, 9, 17, 25, 29, 30

T trees 4, 6–7, 8–9, 10, 12, 15, 16–17, 20–21, 22–23, 24–25, 26–27, 28

W water bears 23 woodpeckers 8, 15, 16, 30

To learn more about life in a woodland, go to www.rubytuesdaybooks.com/habitats

Learn More OnlineLearn More OnlineLearn More OnlineLearn More Online