This Month on the Emmbrook

This Month on the Emmbrook What to look for if you are out and about in OCTOBER
General
	This is the month that highlights the changing seasons. In the garden birds such as the Blackbird, Blue Tit and Robin will be seen more frequently as their need to find food increases. This time of year is a good time to start feeding them. Autumn colour can be seen as the trees and hedgerow leaves change.
Birds
	In autumn very few birds can be heard singing, although they do call to one another as they move around in flocks.Keep an eyeout for Long-tailed Tits moving from tree to tree at Riverside walk. The exception can often be Robins with their melancholy autumn song. A spell of warm weather sometimes persuades Song and Mistle thrushes to sing from some lofty perch, and this is always welcome. The start of the month Meadow Pipits can sometimes be seen flying over Riverside Walk in large numbers as they migrate to other areas. Redwing and Fieldfare will be migrating from Northern Europe to winter in Britain.This is the time Jays are also active burying acorns to eat during the winter.
Insects
	Fewer insect will be seen as the cold weather sets in however certain insects become more noticeable. Around this time of the year Crane flies or Daddy Longlegs appear in their greatest numbers. Harvestmen also known as Harvest spiders can also be seen . Butterflies : Red Admirals can still be seen on the wing on sunny days Dragonflies Common Hawkers can still be seen alongside the Emmbrook at Dinton Pastures Moths : An exotic-looking moth with an exotic name, the Merveille-du-Jour . It’s an autumn flier that feeds on Ivy flowers and ripe berries, widespread and not scarce in woodland, parkland and gardens; the larvae live on oak. Not all moths are brown and boring!
Other Wildlife
	As the tree canopy is gradually lost Grey Squirrels can be seen moving through the branches looking for acorns. Around mid-October Toads go into hibernation, finding logs or stones to hide beneath until Spring arrives once more. Frogs also hibernate at this time at the bottom of ponds or some other sheltered place, ready to emerge again in the following January.
Plants & Trees The leaves on the trees and hedgerows start to change colour to a yellow - gold colour. The reason why this happens is that during the summer when there is plenty of sunlight the leaves produce chlorophyll This is the green you see and it converts the sunlight into energy. The red orange pigment is there in the leaf but is covered up by the green, in the autumn there is less light and so the making of chlorophyll stops and the green fades away to reveal the red - orange colours underneath. Individual flowering plants such as hogweed, meadow sweet and greater bindweed may still be found along the banks of the Emm Brook where they have escaped the mower. However they usually look lonely and bedraggled. October is a good time to see fungi, cool damp days you will find many types in woodland and fields.