Notes on nature : autumn

Dropping in

Mark Ward — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:47:00 GMT

It felt, and smelt, like autumn as I walked to the bus stop this morning. The sky was a beautiful bright blue, but there was a chill in the wind that had swung overnight to the north-east. I’d been optimistic choosing a T-shirt, but I’m loathe to put on an extra layer until I really have to!

Walking past a new housing development, I glanced across a patch of ground cleared for building. A small, pale bird standing on the brown earth caught my eye.

It’s not the sort of place you tend to see many birds, so I had a feeling it might be quite interesting. It’s meerkat-like upright stance and the type of terrain it was on made me think it could be a wheatear.

I was right. Pulling my binoculars out of my bag, to the surprise of commuters driving to work, I laid eyes on a lovely little wheatear. Wheatears are always nice to see, but this one was special. Wheatears only pass through my part of the world in spring and autumn and only in relatively small numbers.

This one’s appearance on this patch of bare earth probably resulted from an overnight journey from Scandinavia, flying high and true below the stars before spotting a suitable place to have a rest and a feed up before continuing on its way to Africa.

Migration is amazing enough when you just read about it, but there’s nothing like the thrill of finding a bird like this (particularly in an unexpected place), so keep your eyes peeled.

The next six weeks or so are a time of migration of epic proportions for millions of birds. I’d love to know what you see in your travels, or close to home. Oh, and I’ll let you know if my little patch of bare ground attracts any more migrants!

Back to Africa

lucinda king — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:59:00 GMT

Coming into work this morning, I noticed a lone swallow perched on a wire by the side of the road.

Although fairly impossible to tell what mood a bird is in, he looked a little lost and forlorn, and I imagined him sitting on the wire, wondering where all his mates had gone.

I didn't have time to stop and tell him that they were probably already well on their way to Africa, and that he, too, should probably set off in that direction soon.

Autumn is on its way

I love autumn, don't get me wrong - it's a beautiful time of year, but while the hot rays of the sun still tingle on my skin (and I can still eat ice-cream outdoors!), the thought of colder and shorter days just round the corner isn't that appealing.

Although I am excited to find out what the wonders of migration will bring to our shores this winter, I will be sad when we have said goodbye to all our summer visitors.....so until next year, I guess I'll just have to make do with my fluffy singing swallow!

What are the signs that autumn is on its way for you? Are there any winter migrants you're particularly looking forward to seeing?

Mighty oaks...

Katie Fuller — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:38:00 GMT

Sometimes, it feels like my neighbours get all the best things on their side of the garden boundary.

Sparrowhawks sitting on the fence, preening for hours. A young brown hare taking refuge from pouring rain, under their plastic garden furniture. Green woodpeckers drilling into their turf for ants. Song thrushes nesting in their shrubbery. And now, something I've wanted to watch for a long time...

Looking out of the upstairs window, there was a pink, white, black and blue blur before me. A jay landed on my neighbours' fencepost and flicked its tail. It had an acorn in its beak, which it placed carefully on top of the post, making sure it wouldn't roll off. Then it jumped down onto the lawn. Looking at its bulging throat, the next move was obvious.

The jay selected a slightly longer patch of grass under an apple tree, its chosen spot for the acorns it was holding in its throat. Using its strong beak, it dug a little hole, brought up an acorn and placed it in the hiding place before pushing the grass back over it.

It repeated this three more times, before performing what I consider to be the most impressive feat: going back to the fencepost to pick up the last acorn! I am absolutely certain I would have forgotten that one...

The jay's final task was to inspect some more lawn. Hopping across the garden, it stopped and cocked its head to one side. Stop. Look. Listen. Hop. What was it doing? I know it's daft to give birds human thoughts, but the jay must have been thinking something. Could it have been...

'Didn't I put some acorns here yesterday?'
'This looks like a really good acorn hiding place!'
'Who's nicked my acorns?'

At the same time, I had to remember that, although crows are very intelligent creatures, the bird's brain was limited by the size of its head. The jay's grey matter couldn't have been much bigger than the acorn it was carrying in its beak. But when it flew off, my brain was full of questions I couldn't answer.

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Falling into nature

Joanne Treverton — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:17:00 GMT

So our brief summer has been and gone (yes, sorry guys, that was it) and it's edging ever closer to that dreaded page in your diary that says 'British Summer Time Ends'. Great! But it's not all doom and gloom...

Autumn is without a doubt my favourite time of year. Along with the change of season there are so many things to look forward to like the harvest festival, Halloween, bonfire night and of course the run up to Christmas (I know, I know, but it's getting closer as we speak!)

And everything looks a bit more glamorous and mature this time of year whether it be the colours of this season's fashion, or the array of rusty reds, golden browns or bright yellows of the autumn leaves as they float to the ground. As we pile on more clothes with our snuggly jumpers and comfy boots, the trees will be losing theirs and will soon be stripped bare.

It always feels cosier this time of year. It's nice to settle down, relax and put your feet up as the nights draw in. The natural world, however, will not be relaxing this season. At first glance, it looks a bit dull outside the kitchen window, but if you look closer you will see a whole display of activity from the minibeasts in your garden to the birds in the sky.

Nature is making its preparations for the cold winter ahead. Small mammals such as squirrels and hedgehogs hibernate over the winter so they'll be spending the next few months feasting on all the food they can find. This is to fatten themselves up and keep warm in the chilly weather. Wow, don't you wish it was that simple?

Look up to the sky and you're likely to see that familiar v-shape floating through the clouds. As wildfowl, gulls and waders such as golden plovers and lapwings will join us for the winter, birds like wheatears, redstarts, hobbies, swallows and ospreys will be flying south in search of warmer climates.

If the food supply is good for garden birds in the autumn they may not visit your garden as they prefer natural food but keep your feeders fresh and stocked up so they know it's there when they return. Make sure your garden full of seeds, nuts a berries and you could spot a jay scouting around for food.

If you haven't already, sign-up free to Homes for Wildlife which will give you information and advice on how to make your home and garden into a mini nature reserve and become a wonderful place for wildlife. It will also give you some great tips for autumn.

With the nights drawing in the sunsets are fantastic to see, especially going on your favourite walk with your favourite people. Our nature reserves have some brilliant trails and many of them stay open until dusk so why not take a walk with the family and see if you can spot this seasons natural trends?

So, I would like to wish you all a very merry autumn, wrap up warm, get out onto our nature reserves and see the best places to enjoy nature.

What are your favourite things about autumn? Write a comment (you will need to register first - this is free - then log in).

It's hard work being a bird

Katie Fuller — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:19:00 GMT

There was a delicate, apricot light as we arrived at Gibraltar Point, where Lincolnshire dips its toes into The Wash. There was a wisp of mist hanging over the dunes but the sun saw through it and lit the saltmarsh from the east.

We explored the dunes, watching for signs of life. It was early morning, and cold, but already birds were on the move. Goldcrests fluttered around in the sea buckthorn with its bright orange berries. Siskins, bramblings and redpolls flew overhead, moving down the coast after making landfall further north. Seeing these birds boggles my mind every time - they're tiny things and they've just flown across the North Sea!

The noisiest migrants were the long strings of pink-footed geese, ‘oink-oink-oinking' their way south-east to cross the wide estuary and reach Norfolk, their home for winter. These little brown geese probably hatched in Iceland this spring and crossed the North Atlantic in their family groups.

Unseen struggles

More often, birds' efforts go unseen by humans. When we do get an insight into migration, we don't always see what we want. That's become all too clear this week, as Deshar, the osprey chick hatched on 26 May at Loch Garten, set off on his journey south to Africa.

Luck plays a huge part: if Deshar had waited two more days to cross the Channel, he'd have enjoyed clear weather. It could have been so different! He set off on a foggy Friday and took the wrong course with the wind behind him. As an inexperienced navigator, he couldn't have known what was ahead of him.

Satellite-tracking Deshar, and his older sister Nethy, has allowed us a glimpse of the challenges that migrating birds face. What should have been a straightforward, short flight across the English Channel at its narrowest point turned into a journey that ended in the way we hoped it wouldn't.

He flew down the Channel and out into the Atlantic non-stop, where he gave up the fight more than 100 hours later, south-west of the Azores and hundreds of miles from where he should have been.

Keep flying

You have to admire the stamina of birds like Deshar. He didn't know where he was going, but he had to go with the flow and keep flying. He held on as long as he could. Meanwhile, Nethy has taken a perfect route across La Manche and into western France. Thousands of other birds are on the move right now, all facing challenges of weather, navigation, food and predators.

While we can't help ospreys see through fog or fly in the right direction, we're doing everything we can to make sure they can breed undisturbed. It's a tough world out there.

Help support our conservation work by joining the RSPB.

Grab and stash raids

Katie Fuller — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:38:00 GMT

As I look out of the office window, there's a constant stream of birds, especially coal tits, visiting the webcam bird feeder here at The Lodge. Where have they come from and what are they doing?

It's been noticeable for the past two weeks. Are the birds migrants, newly-arrived here and need of a square meal?

Probably not. Coal tits in the UK usually stay put, keeping close to the area they hatched in. That means the birds I'm seeing are probably all local, maybe even all hatched from tree holes and nestboxes at The Lodge.

In that case, why the sudden appearance of coal tits on the feeder? I'm guessing that the reason has something to do with the time of year. It might be a time of plenty for many birds at the moment, and the weather is mild, but somehow they know that things could be very different in a matter of weeks.

It's amazing, considering that many of the birds I'm seeing will have hatched this spring - they've never lived through a winter before, but they know they need to prepare for it!

The view from my window is limited - I can see the feeder if I peer around the corner of my computer monitor - so I can't really see exactly what the birds are up to. But yesterday, I spotted a coal tit flying down and shoving a sunflower seed into the ground.

All these industrious little birds are probably doing the same thing - grabbing seeds, flying off and hiding them. There must be seeds everywhere! I've found them in a variety of locations before: rammed into doorframes, keyholes and tucked into buddleia plants. Will they remember where they've left them? I suspect not, but you never know...

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Blackberrying

Katie Fuller — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:26:00 GMT

You know it's autumn when blackberries gleam in the hedgerows. What better symbol is there of harvest and times of plenty in the countryside? Around The Lodge, blackberries are eagerly awaited by creatures of all shapes and sizes...

Birds are perhaps the most obvious consumers of brambles. Thrushes and warblers love them, the sugars in the berries being easily converted to fat which will fuel their migration. You might see them gobbling up fruit, or perhaps spot the aftermath - messy birds with berry juice smeared around their beaks, or bright purple or pink droppings left behind.

On our lunchtime stroll yesterday, Lucinda and I stopped at several bramble patches to watch the diners. Along with the wasps and bees, butterflies were also partaking of the purply-black feast. We watched a vivid orange comma butterfly sipping delicately at a blackberry; closer inspection after it had flown off showed where its tongue left the berry looking deflated.

Smaller beings also enjoy the fruits of the bramble bush. Old folklore says that you shouldn't pick blackberries after St Michaelmas Day - 29 September - because the devil spits on them, but the real culprit is the flesh fly, whose saliva makes the fruit go squishy.

Though they're strictly carnivorous, dragonflies seem to congregate around bramble bushes, too. Southern-facing bushes appear to grow the best, juiciest berries and dragonflies appreciate a nice, warm resting spot, so perhaps it's just a coincidence.

The berries draw in plenty of insect life - dragonfly fodder - and the thorns mean they can perch safely away from predators. Common darters and migrant hawkers are the most common species at the moment, but last week I pushed my way through a bed of nettles to get a closer look at a fantastic brown hawker. Ouch!

Of course, we couldn't resist sampling a few blackberries ourselves. The nicest-looking ones are always just out of reach of human hands, but the birds and insects deserve them more than we do.

Have you seen birds and animals munching on berries lately? Write a comment (you will need to register first - this is free - then log in).
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