Things to look out for in November.

The weather is now becoming much more Autumnal, The winds are becoming stronger, with all of the leaves that all have fallen to the ground blowing around. Most of the leaves from the deciduous trees have now fallen. Red wings and fieldfares have now made the long journey from Scandinavia to winter in Britain. They will be seen amongst hawthorn and apple trees, Finding the remaining hawthorn berries and apples. Their have been quite a few mentions of waxwings around Worcestershire. This bird is also a migrant that Winters in Britain. The fallow,sika and red deer will be finishing their rut by now. After the ruts the males, who don`t eat during the rut will feed well getting ready for the onset of winter. The females will also stay together during winter. The females will give birth during may or June of the following year. Chaffiinches and pied wagtails,linnets,bramblings and greenfinches may be seen in mixed flock species( i will be talking about this in a later blog). They are searching for food, which could be any leftover seeds that are still  in the hedgerow or even any late surviving nuts that may still be on the ground. Blue,coal and great tits will be seen on the feeders as they themselves are eating well,getting ready for the cold months ahead as well.  Seven spotted ladybirds will be attempting to enter our houses as they seek somewhere to hibernate over winter. Late migrant red admirals  and comma`s may still be seen amongst the ivy along with queen bumble bees, as long as we havn`t really had a cold snap yet. Wood mice,yellow-necked mice, bank and field voles will still be searching for hazel nuts to eat amongst the leaf litter. Protein rich hazel nuts are important food for a variety of creatures. You can tell what animals have been around by examining the empty shells. A woodmouse will leave a round hole on the side of the hazelnut, with marks of their upper teeth evident. A bank vole will leave a round hole on the top of the hazelnut, with a clearly delineated gnawed edge. A hazel dormouse will leave a round hole on the side of the hazelnut, unlike the woodmouse the edges will be smooth. Hedgehogs will be getting ready to hibernate during November. They use a process called gluco neogenisis to enable them to hibernate, I will be talking about this as well during a later blog. The hedgehogs along with the common dormice and our seventeen species of bats are the only British mammals that hibernate. With the onset of winter food can run short for certain species, so they face the simple choice to move with the food or hibernate and these three species choose to hibernate. Starlings may be seen in large roosts during November, We are not quite sure why they roost in such large numbers, possibilities include safety in numbers, increasing their foraging efficiency or simply for warmth. Its a wonderful sight as they fly around, moving all the time like a shoal of fish in the air then suddenly all descending onto the ground.

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.                            

The turdidae (thrushes) family.

Part one redwings and fieldfares.

By now there should be plenty of redwings and fieldfares in the country.These magnificent thrushes have flown all the way from Scandinavia(though the last couple of weeks probably felt like home).What i want you to tell me is how many of these birds you have seen and if they have been coming into your gardens?Also has anyone seen them in a mixed species flock i.e with song thrushes and blackbirds?Listen out for the 'chack-chack-chack' of the fieldfare and the 'seeeeip' of the redwing as they fly over head.These birds will stay until April/may and then head back to their breeding grounds.Redwings will eat berries such as hawthorn,yew and mountain ash,they will also eat snails and worms.Fieldfares will also eat hawthorns and will look for seeds in pastures and will eat spiders or centipedes.Fieldfares nest in a variety of habitats in Britain including farmland,woodland edges,forestry plantation's and even sometimes in your garden.Some redwings have bred in Scotland in birch,alder and pine woodlands(The nest is usually in a tree ,against a stump or in a shrub) .Dried grass,twigs and moss are what redwings make their nest out of and fieldfares will make their nests out of dried grass,moss,rootlets and lined with mud.Between five and six eggs are laid and inccubation last for between 12 and 16 days.