Small-sized cattle on the board fence?
As you are dealing more and more with nature in the garden, one becomes aware of ever-smaller things. One day, it got really small. I saw that there were some tiny round animals on top of the board fence. It actually looked like little cows that went around in a field. They were obviously not spiders, but I had to get really close before it dawned on me what I was looking at. They were springtails, specifically ball springtails, because they are round in shape. Springtails are a kind of extremely primitive insect (or something like that – scientists do not quite agree), which is distinguished by having a so-called spring fork, which goes from the tip of the backside to under the stomach. When the springtail is disturbed, the fork stretches out and acts as a pole vault, and thus the beast is quickly on its way.
The creature on my fence was a standard ball springtail. And it is truly a fascinating creature. When the humidity is high and the temperature prowls slightly above freezing, they climb aloft where they graze on algae and fungal tissue in a flock. In particular, algal coatings are popular. Unlike conventional cows, the springtails have a spectacular behaviour. If you get too close, they jump! Right into the thin air, even if there is one and a half meters to the ground. You can almost think it is a pity that they will have to make the climb up again, but better that than being eaten. Springtails have many enemies, as they are the bottom of the food chain - beetles and spiders eat them with utmost pleasure.
The funniest thing about these ball springtails is, however, their sex life. Males are often smaller than the female, and the breeding ritual works in the way that he goes and "blobs" a little around, and then the whole exercise is to get the female manoeuvred over these blobs so that she absorbs the semen. Some species take their chances and simply hope that the female randomly drops by, while others are more goal-oriented and jump on the females’ antennas where they firmly stay looking like some jockey trying to steer the female to the semen blobs. You probably need to be a springtail to think it is funny, but it is fascinating nonetheless!