What to see in September September can be a gentle month here in the Forest of Bowland. Early mornings can feel a little chilly and autumnal but days are often warm and sunny. Everywhere feels like its winding down, mellowing out before the rigours of winter. The trees are just starting to turn, grasses are gently turning from green to blonde by the roadside and everywhere there are berries, fruit, seeds and nuts for the wildlife to fatten up on. It can be a good time to birdwatch as most of our native species are finished with the frantic business of raising a family and have just moulted into their new winter plumage and look rather splendid. They are also preoccupied with the business of turning food into bird before winter so are easir to see.
Jays in particular are much easier to see now as they feast on acorns,beechmast and berries. Small flocks of starlings, mini murmurations, start to from in the fields, soon to be swelled with their continental cousins, eventually forming the huge flocks that give us such breathtaking evening spectacles above Stocks Reservoir and Leighton Moss. Migration within the country and also to and from it is going on now. Most obviously our Swallows and Martins will disappear, but we will see a huge influx of overwintering continental birds escaping harsh northern winters and every day new migrants will start to arrive in the Uk.Reservoirs like Stocks, Barnacre and Foulridge are excellent places to see overwintering wildfowl as is the reserve at Leighton Moss (also has a lovely cafe).
September is a fantastic month to start learning about fungi, strange bright shapes enliven hedge bottoms, weird bracket fungi sprout from the trunks of trees and magicallly puffballs appear from nowhere in familiar fields.
If you have a hedgehog regularly visiting your garden, you could help it fatten up for hibernation by putting a saucer of cat or dog food in its path. Put an inverted saucer over the top to befuddle cats , the hedgehog will nose it off, if you leave a slight gap.
There are still plenty of insects to see, listen out for the chirping of grasshoppers in rough grass,late flying butterflies feeding on buddleias and grasshoppers hawking for insects above treetops near bodies of water. Wyre Estuary is a great place to see some of our common species.
Crane flies can be a nuisance flying in through open windows.Most only live two or three days, mating first if lucky. Unfortunately their larva are the leatherjackets that so annoy gardeners and farmers, though they do provide plenty of food for flocks of rooks, crows and starlings over winter.
Places to Visit
| 5 Leighton Moss Location map... |
Largest remaining reedbeed in north-west England. Bitterns, Egrets, Marsh Harriers, overwintering wildfowl.
RSPB Reserve
|
|
SD476749 Lat: 54.16700673 Long: -2.80263
 LEM-2307-09-10_Leighton Moss final lft.pdf
Blog Posts: Leighton Moss (RSPB) Reserve
|
| 17 Heysham Nature Reserve Location map... |
Parking. Hide. open water, reedbed, marsh, scrub, acid and neutral grasslands, heath and tree and shrub plantations.Dragonflies and damselflies, migrant birds.
County Biological Heritage Site. Managed by LWT.
|
|
SD407601 Lat: 54.03411 Long: -2.90541
Heysham-Nature-Reserve.pdf Blog Posts:
|
| 22 Stocks Reservoir Location map... |
Plenty to see circular walk. Great Crested Grebe, Waterfowl, Woodland Birds, Deer.
|
SD717554 Lat: 53.9943 Long: -2.4325
|
| 38 Wyre Estuary Country Park Location map... |
Parking, toilets, visitor centre. Mudflats, reedbeds. Butterflies.
|
SD311417 Lat: 53.869205 Long: -3.047891
|
| 67 Martin Mere Location map... |
Birds, wetland and visitor attractions. Entrance fee for non-members.
WWT
|
|
SD420145 Lat: 53.62234 Long: -2.86881
Blog Posts: Martin Mere (WWT) Reserve
|
Walks
Lune Valley Rambles Leaflet (PDF 549kb)
Calder Vale Walk: Bluebells and Woodland Delights (PDF 594kb)
Stocks Reservoir Walk (PDF 610kb)
Wycoller Country Park (PDF 601kb)
Tawd Valley Park (PDF 539kb)
|
