Time of plenty...

No shortage of berries at this time of year. 
Or seeds, nuts, acorns and fruit. Plenty to
keep a wide range of winter tourists satisfied. 

Botany has never been the focus of my personal ecological interest. I suspect sub-consciously I am daunted by the sheer scale of the subject material. This year I have been trying, and failing for the most part, to do more in the way of identifying plants. There is one facet of botanical diversity I have paid a keen interest to in the past: the edible bits. Having enjoyed 'hedge harvesting' since I was a wee lad, I can now hopefully pass on that enjoyment to my own young family. I defy anyone to describe to me a better, and more satisfying, late summer pudding than an apple and blackberry crumble, brimming with fruit you have spent the previous morning collecting. All the fruit is fresh, wild... and free! And the perfect accompanying beverage? Elderflower cordial, what else?! These results render the stings, scratches and stains a mere inconvenient post script in the pursuit of culinary satisfaction.

The fruit of the Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) - Haws, no sniggering please. 

The portion sizes on the clichéd gathering options us picky humans know well are relatively limited by this stage of the season with regulars like Blackberries, wild Raspberries, Elderberries, Cherries and Plums well beyond their best if present at all. If nothing else sloes (from Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)) should still be a very real prospect and bilberries (or whichever of its localised names you care to attach to those tasty little paintballs - I called them 'wimberries' as a child) may be hanging on too. If you're really keen other options are still available too but require a bit more looking. Haws and Rowan berries are both edible after all but rarely used by most.

For our wilder neighbours there is still much to be enjoyed, stored and gorged on. Winter berries such as Haws (from Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna of course), Rowan or Mountain-ash (Sorbus acuparia) and Holly (Ilex aquifolium) berries all capture the attention. Being bright red and often in great profusion they are hard to miss but if you are lucky it will quite a different seasonal spectacle that captures the attention - winter migrant birds gorging on this variable and ephemeral seasonal resource. Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) and Red-wing (Turdus iliacas) are nice to see - I haven't seen any yet myself this year (Editor note: I saw my first Fieldfares a few days after I first wrote this), having a baby really impacts on your allocated outdoor time! - but what I really want to get a good look at is Waxwings (Bombycilla garrulus)! 

Holly (Ilex aquifolium) is hard to miss in a leafless wood with its glossy evergreen leaves
and dense clumps of crimson berries

They have been on my 'wildlife bucket list' for some time (I've just added them to the list here on the blog because I forgot when I was originally writing it - oops). Over the last few years it seems I keep missing them, with friends or family sending me pictures of them in their gardens or local nature reserves where I have been a week before or go a week after, but never at the same time as the Waxwings yet! Better luck this year fingers crossed!

As many know far better than me we also get an influx of birds we are often familiar with, which replace our native birds as they move south or just join them for the festivities. With them come a few birds which are less familiar Bramblings (Fringilla montifringilla) and Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) for example. 

Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) are always welcome in my book, and in many places in the UK are resident. In Riddy Wood we get a hand full overwintering every year. I have never managed to spot one on the ground yet, they are simple too well camouflaged, too cryptic; I only catch a glimpse as they hurriedly leave the scene. This year I want to make a special effort to watch them rather than see them, and I'd love to try and take some photo's, I think luck would have to be solidly on my side.  

My personal favourite winter migrant (another which is actually resident here all year round but which I only ever seem to see in winter when we get a whole bunch from continental Europe) is the Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)! For a start, what a name, as bird names go few conjure up a more regal mental image, perhaps ironic considering how small the bird is. This is a bird I seem to have reasonable luck with, in winter at least as mentioned, but not when it comes to taking pictures. I've seen several this autumn including at Park Hall country park a week or two back, and at Cannock Chase when I went to try and watch the Fallow Deer (Dama dama) rut back in the middle of October.

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I seem to have gone off at a very enjoyable, but unintended tangent being distracted by charismatic avian fauna - this was supposed to be about flora! Back on topic - my apologies!

Coyney woods, which has a lot of oaks, seems to be a bit light on acorns this year. Meanwhile Riddy Wood, which I coppice down in Cambridgeshire, seems to have a far bigger crop, strange. Back at Coyney woods the limited supply is being fought over by Jays and Grey Squirrels which adds an element of urgency, reflected in the sky by the Fieldfares and other thrushes (which I'm not allowed to talk about again) dashing from Hawthorn to Hawthorn to gorge on berries.

Haws, Holly and Rowan aren't the only red berries around either - just some of the others I've noticed while out and about include Rose Hips (on Dog Rose (Rosa canina) - top), Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus) - middle, and Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) - bottom; all out and about providing food and colour. At a lower level Lords-and-Ladies (Arum maculatum) fill a berry gap for species with height issues, but I haven't got any pictures of these, very remiss of me.

This post could become a book if I was too write about every species providing an autumn food source for hungry mouths or beaks, especially if I was to further digress into the desperation among animals to feed up for the dearth of winter ... etc. But I could hardly conclude without at least mentioning nuts. Hazel nuts are what spring to mind immediately I suspect when many think about nuts from British woods, and I would be the same. But again, my local woods seem to be a bit light this year despite no shortage of Hazel (Corylus avellana) trees. Something they do have is Chestnuts, Sweet Chestnuts (Castanea sativa) - below, of course, not Horse Chestnuts (Conkers) (Aesculus hipposcastanum). Sadly those I found were a bit on the pathetic side for eating which is a shame because I enjoy a good chestnut, even if they usually are reserved for Christmas in the UK.

Changing seasons are something I used to take for granted, and they're great. A simple statement but think about the range of diverting nature that we get to enjoy in this country: and just when you think it is becoming tedious it changes! The distraction of flowers in spring and summer becomes autumn leaves or berries, in winter (when we get a proper one!) frosted leaves or cobwebs or icicles or ... everything really when its covered in snow! I lived abroad for a few years in the tropics and I honestly missed the seasonal changes - I missed the flower season, the cold season: I suppose the swing from wet season to dry season provided some variation across the calender, but not enough. And of course plants fruit through the year there - an October Harvest festival certainly didn't originate in the Caribbean I can assure you! So make the most of our seasonal bounty, even if it just to recognise how interesting our seasons are.

Richard