Autumn colours
Despite the unseasonably mild temperatures, autumn and all its glory are currently on display around Gate Street Barn. Many trees are a spectacular colour, with leaf shades varying from mahogany and blood-red through amber and gold to luminous green and emerald; a walk in any of the copses dotted around the Wintershall estate can make for a real treat for the eyes at the moment.
With the changing colours of the leaves comes an abundance of seeds and nuts. Horse chestnuts and sweet chestnuts can both be found around Gate Street Barn, and while they look similar, they're very different. Sweet chestnuts are a delicious winter treat when roasted, whereas horse chestnuts (conkers) are mildly poisonous – best avoided!
A good way to make sure you're collecting the right ones is to remember that sweet chestnuts are often found two or more to a shell, which has many extremely sharp, long and densely clustered burrs. Conkers are rarely found more than two to a shell, and can have widely-spaced short spikes or be completely smooth.
Grey Squirrels are particularly obvious at this time of year as they dart around under old trees which have deposited seeds and nuts, collecting them to store, before racing up the trunks and branches and on to the next food stop. This autumn it seems squirrels will have competition for seeds, certainly for beech, from Bramblings.
The UK is currently experiencing an influx of this finch species – similar to the familiar Chaffinch – which is a winter visitor to our shores. It's likely that a failure of beech mast on the continent is behind the bigger numbers than normal, and on most mornings during the last month or so their bright plumage can be seen, or buzzing call heard, around the Wintershall area.
Numbers of most winter visitors are still low, though, with not many days of appropriate assisting winds having yet occurred in order to help birds over. However, a few Redwings and Fieldfares can be seen munching on berries, the cover crops are slowly beginning to draw in mixed flocks of finches and buntings and wildfowl numbers are steadily building on the water bodies.
The autumn has seen a few surprising records of rare or unusual species, normally of birds flying over as they undertake part of their migration: a Brent Goose over Allden's Hill, several Hawfinches and a high-flying Little Egret have all been noteworthy, but the standout moment was a skua that cruised pretty much straight over Gate Street Barn towards the end of September. Any skua inland is exceptional, and this particular individual was re-tracking to the coast having been blown inland following late September storms.
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| Fallen leaves. |
With the changing colours of the leaves comes an abundance of seeds and nuts. Horse chestnuts and sweet chestnuts can both be found around Gate Street Barn, and while they look similar, they're very different. Sweet chestnuts are a delicious winter treat when roasted, whereas horse chestnuts (conkers) are mildly poisonous – best avoided!
A good way to make sure you're collecting the right ones is to remember that sweet chestnuts are often found two or more to a shell, which has many extremely sharp, long and densely clustered burrs. Conkers are rarely found more than two to a shell, and can have widely-spaced short spikes or be completely smooth.
Grey Squirrels are particularly obvious at this time of year as they dart around under old trees which have deposited seeds and nuts, collecting them to store, before racing up the trunks and branches and on to the next food stop. This autumn it seems squirrels will have competition for seeds, certainly for beech, from Bramblings.
 |
| Brambling. |
The UK is currently experiencing an influx of this finch species – similar to the familiar Chaffinch – which is a winter visitor to our shores. It's likely that a failure of beech mast on the continent is behind the bigger numbers than normal, and on most mornings during the last month or so their bright plumage can be seen, or buzzing call heard, around the Wintershall area.
Numbers of most winter visitors are still low, though, with not many days of appropriate assisting winds having yet occurred in order to help birds over. However, a few Redwings and Fieldfares can be seen munching on berries, the cover crops are slowly beginning to draw in mixed flocks of finches and buntings and wildfowl numbers are steadily building on the water bodies.
The autumn has seen a few surprising records of rare or unusual species, normally of birds flying over as they undertake part of their migration: a Brent Goose over Allden's Hill, several Hawfinches and a high-flying Little Egret have all been noteworthy, but the standout moment was a skua that cruised pretty much straight over Gate Street Barn towards the end of September. Any skua inland is exceptional, and this particular individual was re-tracking to the coast having been blown inland following late September storms.
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| Woodpigeons. |
Most birds manage to keep on the right course, however, and Woodpigeons are spectacular in their movements at the end of Ocotber and early November. Huge flocks join together as they rove around in search of food. On 4 November, in just two-and-a-half hours, a whopping 6,369 flew over. To many the humble Woodpigeon isn't worth a second thought, but next time you see one bear in mind that it may have come all the way from Scandinavia, and could be off to Spain soon ...
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