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Dr Cath’s Nature Notes – September

We’re not quite into autumn yet, but there are definite changes afoot, and I’m looking forward to them. This is a time of fruitfulness, with ripening apples, wild fruits aplenty and the year progressing towards autumn.

September is the time for the hibernators to fatten up and for squirrels to look to their winter stores. I’ll be looking to mine as well, with the seasonal harvest of blackberries getting into full swing, crab apples for gathering and the nut crop coming on. 

With such a wealth of food available in the woods and hedgerows, it’s a good time of year to spot mammals and birds as they make the most of the autumn bounty, sometimes bringing otherwise secretive creatures into sight. With such a wealth of food available in the woods and hedgerows, it’s a good time of year to spot mammals and birds as they make the most of the autumn bounty, sometimes bringing otherwise secretive creatures into sight. Pine martens feast on bright red rowan berries, badgers and foxes snaffle windfall damsons and seldom-seen jays make themselves noisily obvious as they collect acorns.

Jay with acorn

Jay with acorn (Margaret Holland)

Jays are important vectors in the distribution of acorns, carrying them away from the parent trees and ‘planting’ them as winter stores at a much greater distance than mice and squirrels manage. Some of these cached acorns will be forgotten, lost, or the jay may not survive to eat them, and so will germinate in spring to grow into a new oak, in an ideal situation away from the shade of the parent tree. Because the jays habitually bury individual acorns rather than a hoard of them together, in a good mast year (one with a glut of nuts) there is potential for a fine crop of new young trees. In Austria the birds are called Eichelhähern – oak-planters – and it  is believed that an acorn won’t unless planted by one. Whole new woodlands can be generated by the action of jays, combined with other birds such as thrushes dispersing the seed of thorny shrubs such as brambles and hawthorn which act as protective nurseries for the baby oaks – no need for labour-intensive planting or expensive plastic tree guards! 

In a good year for acorns there will be plenty for the jays, mice and squirrels to share with adventurous foragers. They need to be leached (soaked) before use to remove the tannins, but once processed can be made into flour or roasted and salted. Hazelnuts are a better-known wild food, but it can be tricky to get to them before the squirrels, who are quite happy to eat the under-ripe. For human consumption, pick them only when the green frilly casing is coming away from the nut. Raw or roasted, they make a tasty nutritious snack. 

Blackberries

Blackberries (c) Amy Lewis

Blackberries are at their best in September so make the most of them – folklore dictates they should never be picked after Michaelmas day – 29th September . Allegedly, when Lucifer was ejected from Heaven by St Michael he landed in a bramble bush and was so enraged he cursed the plant, that its berries should taste foul after Michaelmas.  Old Michaelmas day fell on 10th October, so I always allow myself a little leeway! 

Early Autumn fungi will soon be emerging – grassland species such as bright waxcaps and impressive giant puffballs are worth seeking out. Melverley Meadows is a good place to look for waxcaps, including the lovely but scarce pink species. Giant puffballs can pop up almost anywhere and grow to a remarkable size – I’ve occasionally mistaken a particularly large specimen for a sleeping sheep – but if you want one to eat, go for a smaller one, about the diameter of a side plate, with firm flesh. Fried in bacon fat they’re quite delicious. If you’d like some ideas for autumn foraging, please email me (cathp@shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk) for my handout. 

Wasp on blackberry

Wasp, feeding on autumn blackberry (c) Paul Hobson

This is the time of year for wasps to make a nuisance of themselves. Unpopular at the best of times, by September the creatures are really behaving quite badly. Knowing why might make you a little more sympathetic! The majority of wasps have led a useful and blameless life thus far, predating pest insects which they feed to their young, which in turn exude sweet spit to feed the worker wasps. By autumn, there are no larvae in the nest so the worker wasps have to find alternative foods – jam, fizzy drinks and rotting, fermenting fruit. Nest discipline has broken down, with the queens dying off and the new queens going into hibernation, so we’re left with a lot of unemployed, possibly drunken worker wasps eking out an existence until the cold weather kills them off. One almost feels sorry for them! 

In the wildlife garden there’s plenty to do. Watch out for hedgehogs, which will be fattening up for hibernation, and put out some high-quality meaty cat or dog food or special hedgehog food to give them a hand. Don’t be too tidy! Various creatures will appreciate those messy corners when the time comes to look for a cosy place for the big sleep of winter. You might feel your garden birds have deserted you, but don’t worry – at this time of year many of them are moulting after the business of spring and summer raising young, and will be keeping a low profile until their new feathers have grown. There’s plenty of ‘wild’ food available too, so they may not be as dependent on your bird feeders. In a few weeks they’ll be back, augmented by this year’s young and the first of the winter visitors. Please keep putting food out, but try to adjust the quantity so that it gets eaten within a couple of days to avoid waste and spoilage, and don’t forget to keep bird baths clean and fresh for bathing and drinking. 

So don’t be downhearted at the end of summer – there are plenty of benefits. I’m looking forward to cooler weather and the enlivening feeling of the changing season with all its glories – any excuse to get out into nature! 

 

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