Wildlife calendar October

This month marks the peak of the rut – the annual mating season for red, sika and fallow deer. The word is Middle English for ‘roar’, and if you see or hear this event in the Forest you will understand how it got its name.

Most of the rutting activity occurs very early in the morning. Red stags vie for supremacy by roaring, posturing and rounding up the hinds (females), but actual fights are seldom witnessed. Fallow bucks make a groaning mating call that has been described as a cross between a belch and a growl.  Fights break out and sometimes serious injuries occur. Sika stags attract hinds with a series of piercing whistles.

Deer have traditional rutting ‘stands’ in the Forest. Telltale signs are muddy wallows where males urinate and then coat themselves in the mud, as well as scored tree trunks and frayed branches. The damage to timber is caused by males aggressively marking the stands and rubbing their antlers against trees to remove the velvet.  

Please be careful not to disturb Forest deer, particularly at this time of year.

Migration comes to an end for most birds this month, although you might still see some warblers and house martins. Large flocks of winter thrushes – the redwing and fieldfare – begin to arrive from Iceland and Scandinavia. Wintering waders and wildfowl gather on coastal marshes: the Lymington – Keyhaven nature reserve is a great place to spot species such as Brent geese, lapwing, teal, redshank, sandpiper and turnstone.

Reptiles go into hibernation until spring, and many birds and mammals are fattening up on nuts, fruit, seeds and berries. Fallen rotten fruit also attracts a variety of insect life: look out for millipedes, fruit flies, grubs, ladybirds, hoverflies and late butterflies such as the peacock and small tortoiseshell.  

This is usually the last month when you will see wood ants, hornets and dung beetles in the woodland inclosures.