Your sightings.

I went to slimbridge yesterday and it made me think. There were lots of migrant birds that spend their Autumn and Winter at slimbridge or use it as a stopping off point which were very enjoyable to watch. I would like you to tell me of sightings of migrant birds close to where you live or while you have been on a trip somewhere. You may see finches such as siskins or bramblings or thrushes such as fieldfares and redwings which have migrated from Scandinavia or Russia. Or you may even see a little firecrest that may winter in southern Britain. Let me know if you see whooper or bewick swans that have migrated from the Canadian artic and the artic siberia and the pink footed geese from Iceland or brent or barnacle geese that both come in from the artic as well. There are also various ducks and waders that come into Britain from their breeding ground. Go out and have some fun and tell me any of your sighting. Thank you.

Samhain

This is a pagan cross quarter festival of autumn`s end and the beginning of winter. It is the right time to connect energy and for internalising the creative life force. Increasing darkness and cold means we must all accept that winter is fast approaching and we must adjust to the changing seasons. Leaves have fallen from the deciduous tress, birds have migrated, certain animals have gone into hibernation(hazel dormice,hedgehogs and our seventeen species of bats), The first frosts have come. It is time of death and decay all around us, Death of the old, and within us , knowledge of re-birth at the spring equinox.It is a time of forced adjustments which, once accepted, reveal a new set of possibilities, a new phase and a new power of life. Like its counterpart beltain, Samhain brings a mystical energy at a magical time which we can use to explore and understand ourselves better. This is the dark phase of the year`s cycle when the mystery of transformation occurs. The process involves a descent and a death of something old in preparation for something new to be re-born. The descent into the underworld or otherworld can be understood as a journey into the unconscious and the spirit realms within each of us. Here we can find renewal through meditation, trance,rest,sleep,and by sacrificing our outer selves for a while. The seeds of our ideas and future direction in life are incubated in our unconscious during the winter months, along with all the roots of the trees and seeds of all of our plants are getting ready for re-birth at the spring equinox. We can honour the cycle by being aware that each end and death of the old will bring opportunity for a new start,as each beginning holds within it an end. The endless cycle of change is necessary, bringing renewal of cells, of ourselves,our understanding and our ideas. It means there are always new opportunities to start again and to stay healthy. Many illnesses are rooted in stuck energy patterns, emotional congestion and hanging onto the past. We have been taught to fear our inner world and to mistrust the information we may receive through insights,intuition, and our connection to our own inherent inner wisdom. Many of our actions come from our subconscious and we may not always be aware of these subtle patterns and conditioned responses that are such a part of us and which may silently rule our lives. We need to understand our unconscious selves, and to learn to listen to our inner voice. We can use the energy of the dark time of the year to explore these inner parts of ourselves. We need to face our fear of the dark mysteries, magic and our deep unwanted feelings which we may have pushed inside and not recognised as our own. We need to turn and face what these mean to us, free the energies, the potential inherent in the experience. From this courageous journey for all of within nature will come transformation, a balanced perspective and re-birth in the age-old tradition of samhain. Look for ways to find the divine within all of us at this period of rest and regeneration before re-birth.

Appo sematic colouration.

Insects will show off their bright colour to warn predators that they are poisonous or unpalatable. Seven spotted ladybirds are very colourful and very distasteful if eaten, common wasps are black and yellow to warn predators that they have a mighty sting. Their are then the mimics that don`t sting or are not poisonous, Wasp beetles,hoverflies and certain moths are three examples. The batesion mimic is the first type of mimic. Its to their advantage to copy insects that do sting when they themselves do not for their protection. Hornet clear wing moths benefit from copying wasps without actually having a sting. The second type of mimic is called a malerian mimicry, In this case both the mimic and the model are distasteful so they both benefit through association and because of this Predators will leave them alone. The third mimic is called aggressive mimicry. This is where a mimic or a parasite or a predator copies his host to get close to it so then it can eat its host or parasite it. Its not just mimicry through colour there is acoustic mimicry where certain types of moths are unpalatable to bats. To advertise this the moths produce a high pitched sound as they are flying. Other palatable moths copy this so the bats think they are unpalatable and don`t eat them.

Things to look out for in October.

By now leaves are starting to fall from all of our deciduous trees. Because of the process of abscission we can start to see all the different colours as the leaves start to fall. Red wings and field fares are starting to make the long journey from Scandinavia. During the evening you can sometimes hear the chack chack chack from these birds as they fly over head. Both of these birds are from the thrush family and may sometimes be seen in a mixed species flock which may include blackbirds and song thrushes.Red deer and fallow deer begin their rut during October.  Red deer stags will try to hold onto their harem in the rutting stands and mate with as many hinds as possible, they will try and hold as many hinds as possible in their harum. They will face competition from other stags though, Male stags will thrash around in the under growth and bellow as loud as they can. They do this to show their dominance but quite often after a lot of parallel walking the two stags will finally come to blows. Sometimes the fights can end in one of the stags dying, The stags don`t eat during the rut and lose a lot of weight and can become very tired. During the rest of the year the stags all live together in herds. The fruit bodies of fungi are abundant during October as they release their spores. Fly agaric is the most famous of our fungi but be careful as it is highly poisonous. But one mushroom you can eat is the penny bun which as their name suggests look like an old penny bun that you could buy from a bakery. The penny bun belongs to the boletus family, easily recognised by their plump look and spongy sporing surface.The tawny owl is probably one of the easiest owls to see, especially at this time of the year when it is getting territorial again and responds well to impersonations. Tawny owls are setting up territories at this time of year, pairing off and searching out nesting sites. The males will bring their females food as part of their courtship ritual. The young will be ousted from the territory in which they were raised. They must find a territory that will supply them with enough food through winter, They must also find suitable roosting sites and nest holes for the breeding season. Garden orb spiders can be seen almost everywhere during this month. They are actually their during the whole year bot are more noticeable with all the autumn dew on them. Most of the males have died by now and its the females that are on the webs. Galls can be seen on some of the leaves falling from the trees. Galls are mainly the products of the activities of a group of minute insects known as gall wasps. Spangle galls look like little flying saucers, But they are actually the little homes of tiny wasp grubs,which are a well known snack for birds. Flocks of bramblings and chaffinches feast on them over the winter months. Grass snakes and adders will be starting to look for hiberaculums to hibernate in over winter. Sweet chestnuts and horse chestnuts will litter floors when you are walking through woodlands. Natterer`s bat will be starting to look for winter roosting site where they will hibernate. Although this small bat may not finally hibernate until the end of November. They may hibernate in caves or in hollow trees if caves are not available. On cool wet night`s look out for violet ground beetle`s which can be recognised by a clean-cut appearance,long legs, big eyes and a powerful set of mandibles. They are mainly nocturnal and enjoy the moist autumnal air. As their name suggests they have got a violet tinge to them and are a perfect assassin , using their mandibles like a pair of bolt cutters, taking out and slicing up any invertebrate they come across from woodlice,garden snails and great black slugs.

                                                         Garden orb spider.                            

Syzagy.

Tides are a regular or a predictable movement of water caused by an astronomical body. The tides are not caused by wind, Which is neither regular or predictable. The earth is covered with water that is pulled by the gravitational pull from the moon. This then pulls the bulge to one side of the earth. The rotational pull from the spinning of the planet then leaves the bulge on the other side of the planet. The earth spins at 23.5 degrees and does not spin on the perpendicular. Twice a day it moves between the area with a bulge and the area without the bulge (The difference between the two give rise to the tides). Because the moon moves, by the time you move around again you get whats called moonlag. So because of this tides occur every 12.25 hours and not every 12 hours. The high and low tides are caused by syzagy. This happens when the earth, sun and the moon are aligned. The gravitational pull of the moon is maximised by the sun. The sun itself has a very powerful gravitational pull. There gives rise to the term spring tides(This has nothing to do with spring) and this is where bulges are at their biggest. The lowest tides are caused when the moon is at 90 degrees to the sun. Therefore its gravitational pull is reduced by the sun, and the bulges are at their minimum (This is when you get whats called a neap or a least). This greatly increases our bio-diversity of Britain. Without the peculiarity you would not get any beeches.
                                                                            Moon
Sun-Earth-Moon = Biggest tides  Sun-Earth = Lowest tides