Autumn’s colourful late arrival
AUTUMN appears to have come a little late this year but it’s been worth the wait as the colours of the leaves in woodland are amazing right now.
Trees have changed colour in many cases, there is still a good amount of green around but golds, yellows and oranges are dominating our woods and woodland floors when I wander out every day.
As I write this, it is pouring outside but the temperatures are still unseasonably warm so there are still a fair few flowers blooming red, yellow and blue - borage and forget-me-not have normally vanished in October.
Regular early winter colours are still around with fungi covering lots of places, particularly rotten logs. Even in my back garden, our rotten logs are showing the fruity bits of candle snuff and honey fungus.
In the woods there are lots of bright and colourful fungi, like the purple amethyst deceiver or the fairy’s favourite fly agaric, with its red spotty top. Unless you know what you are doing, please don’t pick or eat fungi.
There are plenty of fungal forays happening around nature reserves and parks, so it’s better to get involved in one of them.
As the leaves fall off the trees and bushes, spotting wildlife becomes easier.
I certainly see more roe deer in the winter months and it’s a really good time to see foxes hunting in woodland. Last year, I watched for some minutes
as a weasel searched along the woodland floor looking for prey.
Birds of prey are generally easier to spot as they perch on high branches watching the forest floors for signs of small mammals and birds.
You might even catch sight of a kingfisher sitting on a favourite branch, now denuded of foliage.
Kingfishers will be keen to hunt as much as possible now, as they suffer badly if we get long spells of frozen water.
Leaf piles in your
garden and in woodland are great homes for insects and small mammals in the winter.
If you hear a rustling in the leaves, it is likely to be a blackbird scrabbling around looking for worms.
Those blackbirds, who are such noisy singers in spring and summer, make such a racket in the leaf piles. I am sure they are much larger animals until I spot them.
So, if you see a leaf pile in a woodland leave it alone or create your own in your garden, in case any wildlife needs to shelter in the coming, difficult months.
Temperatures are finally dropping as I sit here in my cold room and wildlife will be snuggling up to deal with it.
Of course, we can help by keeping bird feeders stocked and water bowls unfrozen.
Then, when spring comes, we will be able to join in nature’s celebration as new life is born right outside our windows.