Dorset’s October wildlife
Colin Varndell looks at Dorset’s flora and fauna in the season of mists and fruitfulness
Published in October ’18
Goldfinches extract the seed from teasels by ‘combing’ their beaks along the seed heads
October ushers in that most colourful of seasons, autumn. It is as though Mother Nature delivers one final flourish of rich hues before dying back to winter slumber. Autumn is the shortest season, but also the most spectacular as deciduous trees and shrubs change their sombre summer greens for the fiery colours of the season. This transition becomes apparent through October, as the deciduous woods and copses of Dorset begin the month in dark green foliage, gradually progressing to a magnificent display of colour by the end. Native hedgerow shrubs add to this kaleidoscope of shades with the vibrant hues of berries like guelder rose, wayfaring tree, hawthorn and blackthorn, the last two often seen tangled together along ancient hedgerows.
Wood mice forage amongst the leaf litter for hazel nuts and beech mast
The contrast in temperatures at this time of year, between relatively warm days and cool nights, produces condensation, floating in the air as vapour rising from damp valleys and river beds. Often, on October mornings, a blanket of white fog is draped across the landscape with trees and other tall features rising above it.
A sika stag strikes an aggressive pose during the October rut at Arne
Throughout this month there is a frenzy of mammal activity, as small animals prepare for winter. Wood mice collect hazel nuts for winter storage in a hollow tree or vacant nestbox. Dormice engage in high-energy feeding in order to increase their body weight for hibernation. Hedgehogs, too, will be putting on weight as well as seeking out hibernation nest sites and collecting deciduous leaves to line their nests. The autumn rut of both fallow and Sika deer peaks at around the third week of this month. This is when stags or bucks gather their females and keep them close for mating. Fallow bucks utter a deep, guttural bark as they constantly herd their females. The rutting call of a sika stag sounds very similar to a creaking gate needing oil!
A garden spider spinning its web on a warm October afternoon on Studland Heath
The high humidity of the season triggers fungi to sprout fruiting bodies in the form of toadstools, brackets, puff-balls and jellies: an enchanted plant form, often appearing mysteriously overnight, and at a time when all else is dying back. One of the most eye-catching toadstools is the fly agaric, so attractive it is often featured in children’s story books. Find these in east Dorset especially, where the mycelium lives on dead roots of silver birch or pine trees.
Hedgehogs seek medium size deciduous leaves for their winter nests
Wildlife is busy, reaping the rewards of the season. Wasps and red admiral butterflies sip the juices from autumn fruits and windfall apples. Jays collect acorns to bury for winter storage. Often, these buried acorns are forgotten to become the oak trees of the future. Coal tits visit garden bird-feeding stations to collect nuts and seed for winter storage, accounting for the fact that coal tits may appear to be busy for a few days and then absent for a while as they feed on their cache. Bullfinches issue their soft ‘piping’ contact calls as they work their way along hedgerows, feeding on rowan and guelder rose berries. Tinkling charms of goldfinches in their red balaclavas harvest seed from thickets of teasels by combing their bills up and down the seed heads.
A misty woodland path through Pigeonhouse Plantation, Milton Abbas
October is the time for feasting in the natural world since both natural seeds and fruit, as well as insect life, are still abundant. Predators of invertebrates continue to reap their rewards throughout the month. Southern hawker dragonflies dart in and out of the evening sunbeams as they hawk for midges and gnats. Hornets fly by night as well as by day and predate moths. Hornets declined drastically during the 1960s but have gradually recovered and may be seen just about anywhere in the Dorset countryside today. On heathland and other scrubby habitats, garden spiders construct their magnificent orb webs, complex structures which often on October mornings are decorated with crystal-clear dewdrops. Each individual web of spider’s gossamer is a unique feat of engineering and one of nature’s most extraordinary spectacles. These webs or nets are designed to catch insects for spiders to eat and it is not unusual to find invertebrates as large as common darter dragonflies entwined in the gossamer.
Although attractive to the eye, fly agaric toadstools are also dangerously poisonous
The birdsong silence of late summer is now broken as thrushes, wrens and robins sing to establish their winter territories. Throughout autumn, robin song becomes a distinct feature as females also sing at this time in order to establish their own territory boundaries. Gangs of tits constantly utter their high-pitched contact notes as they forage for the autumn harvest in hedgerows and gardens. Bird life becomes more apparent now; garden and woodland birds have spent the last few months moulting, but now they are preparing for the onset of winter.
The avocets arriving in Poole Harbour this month will have spent the summer breeding in the wetlands of Holland
Winter 1998
The summer visiting birds have now all but gone, but are replaced by redwings and fieldfares as these winter visitors arrive during October to feed on the berries of Dorset’s holly trees and windfall apples. By the end of the month, other spectacular wildlife events occur as spoonbills and avocets arrive in Poole Harbour, building up their numbers to the highest over-wintering populations of these birds to be recorded in the UK.
