Brown October brings the last…
Wildlife
In the deer rutting season stags compete for hinds by fighting each other with their antlers. Redwing and fieldfares return from the north and many of our summer visitors head off south to Africa. Toads hibernate under rocks and stones while frogs go to the bottom of a pond or a protected place. Insect populations begin to decline, remaining as caterpillars and pupae during the cold months.
Plantlife
Mushrooms and toadstools, such as fly agaric and shaggy inkcap, appear in coniferous and deciduous woodlands. Look out for fairy rings formed by toadstools in grassland and the beefsteak fungus on oak and chestnut trees. Trees such as beech, oak maple, horse chestnut and ash reveal their autumn colours – quite suddenly if there’s a sharp frost. Old man’s beard spreads like a blanket over hedgerows where fruits and berries continue to provide food for birds such as redwings and fieldfares that winter in England.
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