Autumn - the season of cooler, shortening days - and life beginning to slow down as the natural
world is transitioning towards the wintertime.
Here's a flavour of some of the
lovely things to look out for:
Autumn Leaves
Beautiful Berries and Rosehips
Spectacular Seedheads
Many spectacular seedhead and plant structure displays appear in the autumn,
including 'dandelion clocks' ...
Bees
Lots of details and interesting info in this great blog by 'Urban Bees'.
Fungi
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Common inkcaps (above left) are sticky and, because of this, in the past have been used used as a source of ink for important documents to guard against forgeries.
Fly agaric (above right) is highly toxic, famous for growing in rings often referred to as fairy rings - home to fairies! Common in birch woodland.
Wildlife
Hedgehogs Preparing to Hibernate
Hedgehogs are well on their way to getting ready to hibernate. They’ll be putting on as many calories as they can and searching out a safe place for their long winter hibernation.
It is thought there are less than a million hedgehogs left in the
UK (down from 30 million in the 1950s). By ensuring a hegehog has what it needs to build its home, or building one for them, you can help them to have somewhere safe for shelter and hibernation.
The Avon Wildlife Trust have a page of great advice ...
... and here's a Step by step guide to building a hedgehog house from the RSPB.