October’s wildlife highlights
PUBLISHED ON: 4 OCTOBER 2024In October, nature treats us to vibrant autumn displays in the National Park, with firey foliage and fascinating fungi stealing the show.
This is one of the most important sites for fungi in Britain, and there are around 2,700 species that call the New Forest their home.
Woodland areas are the best places to spot them: Look out for chicken-of-the-woods, fly agaric, puffballs, beefsteak fungus and staghorn among many others. Please remember to look but don’t touch, leave only photographs, and leave all fungi for others to enjoy.
Reptiles go into hibernation until spring, and many birds and mammals are fattening up on nuts, fruit, seeds and berries.
Mountain ash – also known as rowan – is dripping in its finest red berries which the birds love (particularly thrushes). It’s lovely to go for a walk and be greeted by these beautiful trees in their smart livery.
October is officially apple month, with crab apple trees common across the Forest. Fallen rotten apples attract a variety of scrumpers: look out for fruit flies, ladybirds, hoverflies and late butterflies such as the peacock and small tortoiseshell. Mammals such as badgers also like to snack on the windfalls.
You may notice wasps all about at the moment. The queen is winding down now, making less pheromones so the wasps go off and do their own thing (likely munching on apples too!)
Although you might still see some warblers, swallows and house martins, most of our summer visitors will have left by the end of October. 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 lapwing, redshank, grey plover, turnstone (main photo) and Brent geese.
This is usually the last month when you will see wood ants, hornets and dung beetles in the woodland inclosures.
You may also catch a last glimpse of a great crested newt. Much larger and darker in colour than our other native newts, these have a distinctive ‘warty’ skin. They spend most of their life on land in woodland, hedgerows and tussocky grassland.
October marks the peak of the rut – the annual mating season for red, sika and fallow deer. The word ‘rut’ comes from the late Middle Ages meaning ‘roar’. Please keep well clear and also be aware of deer running across roads.
We’re still in pannage season, so you’ll see pigs happily guzzling acorns. They’re doing other Forest livestock a favour, as acorns are poisonous to cattle and ponies. Thank you for giving the pigs a wide berth, whether in a car, on foot or two wheels.
Hallowe’en season is upon us too, but please don’t leave any pumpkins out on the Forest. They can be harmful to wildlife and grazing livestock. Instead, please compost them at home or make them into soup.