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The information on this page is intended to highlight specific features within the nature reserve
that would be of interest to the visitor.
To provide additional information on a subject, we frequently provide links from this page
to webpages produced by other organisations.
Note also that some links take you to websites to listen to recordings of bird sounds.
These links will only work if your computer has the necessary audio features.
To view a different period, click on the appropriate link in the table below.
Interesting Features to be seen in
September |
| Fruits are now forming on many of the trees and shrubs. You may see crab apples,
hazelnuts, acorns,
dogwood
(black berries in small clusters), elderberries (large clumps of tiny black berries),
wild service
(small brown berries in clusters), blackberries,
maple
(small ‘helicopters’), ash (like bunches of keys), old man’s beard (white tufts),
spindle fruits
(pink and lumpy), hawthorn berries and rose hips. All of these are a food source for animals.
Squirrels are especially fond of hazel nuts and are acrobatic enough to collect
nuts from the ends of the branches. Some fruits are buried for later use and those
which are forgotten may germinate in the spring.
Jays often bury acorns, while the seeds of blackberries pass through the guts of
birds, perhaps to be deposited far away. |
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| In the undergrowth, the bunches of bright red fruits of
wild arum
show up prominently among the decaying leaves of dog’s mercury. The trailing stems of
black bryony
also produce bright red fruits. Both of these are poisonous.
This is also the time of year when many types of fungi produce spores in a variety
of toadstools, puffballs and other forms. |
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| There are still many insects on the wing.
Migrant hawker
dragonflies are much in evidence in the clearings, accompanied by large numbers of the smaller
ruddy darter. The male
ruddy darter .
has the red abdomen and the female is an olive green colour.
Butterflies include
red admiral
and
speckled wood
in the forest, with some
small heath ,
common blue and
small tortoiseshell
on the marjoram in the quarry.
Bush crickets and grasshoppers are also abundant. |
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| Mixed flocks of small birds continue to move around the canopy, with
tree creepers,
tits,
nuthatch,
goldcrest and
warblers all moving along together, keeping in touch with constant calls. Go to the
Northamptonshire Wildlife website
sound gallery
to hear examples of bird calls for many of these species.
Soon these will be joined by migrant redwings from the north, heralding the start of autumn. |
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