Abundant August
Brilliant sunshine and hot weather followed by sudden downpours and thunderstorms – it can only mean one thing- we’re getting close to harvest time. As we move towards late summer, nature’s harvest is filling up the hedgerows with colourful bursts of berries, while perfectly formed nuts are starting to ripen.
Energy rich fruits
While we may enjoy foraging for berries; for birds and small mammals the energy they gain from these rich fruits will feed them though the autumn and winter. Carefully packaged in vivid reds and purplish black, these berries are designed to be noticed among the leaves, increasing the trees’ chances of having their seeds dispersed. Joining the bramble and rowan, another group of fruits will start ripening this month including elder, hazel, hawthorn, blackthorn, beech, and the dog rose.[gallery type="slideshow" size="large" ids="6861,8615,5900"]Berries have different shelf lives and toxicity levels and birds appear to eat them in sequence to make their food supply last longer. Juicy elderberries don’t last long and are one of the first to be eaten. Enjoyed by squirrels and butterflies, you’ll also be able to see blackbirds, song thrushes and blue tits eating the fruit. The berries are also popular with migratory birds like blackcaps, warblers and chiffchaffs who will be eating the fruit and the insects, to build up their energy before their epic journeys to their winter homes. Even deer are partial to these sugar rich natural treats.
For hibernators, like hazel dormice the ripening time is crucial. To successfully hibernate, they need to build up their energy, and because they can’t digest the cellulose in grass and leaves, they rely on flowers, insects, fruits, and nuts to build up their fat reserves. They’re already eating the bramble flowers and blackberries, and as soon as they ripen, they’ll start to eat the high energy hazel nuts and vitamin rich elderberries. Last year hazelnuts ripened four days earlier than the 2001 benchmark year on 31st August and Nature’s Calendar* records are being used to study the impact of hazelnut flowering and fruit ripening on dormice hibernation.
Ivy’s flowering food
Often blamed for damaging or killing trees, ivy isn’t everyone’s favourite plant. But if you find an area of mature ivy you can watch, you’ll be rewarded with insects, birds and small mammals feeding, hibernating, and sheltering inside.There are two native ivies in Britain, Hedera helix ssp. helix which climbs and Hedera helix ssp. Hibernica which spreads across the ground. Hedera helix ssp. helix grows up to 30 m to find sunlight, using specialist stem hairs to attach itself to the tree. Feeding from a main root it isn’t parasitic but will cut out light and reduce the tree’s ability to photosynthesise when it reaches the canopy.This month small clusters of yellowish green flowers will start to appear on mature ivy making it popular with bees, hoverflies, wasps, and butterflies including the peacock and small tortosieshell. It’s a valuable food source for some moth larvae including the swallow-tailed and small dusty wave, and the holly blue butterfly will be laying its second generation of larvae on its leaves. The flowers will continue until November, making it a valuable food source for insects before they hibernate including the red admiral butterfly which is starting to hibernate in southern England.[gallery type="slideshow" size="large" ids="7062,8614,8613"]
Is it time to say goodbye yet?
Though the days are still hot, another two of our summer birds are getting ready to return to south and sub-Saharan Africa. Swallows and house martins will have tried to raise two broods this summer, but as the cooler weather impacts on their insect food supply, they’ll start to join the swifts on their long migratory flights. So, let’s enjoy them while we can.
What else to look out for
With its bright red or orange cap and white spots, fly agaric mushrooms look like they belong in a fairy tale book. While enchanting to look at, these poisonous mushrooms cause blurred vision and nausea and have been used by shamans as a hallucinogenic drink for over 4,000 years. Growing up to 30 cm tall and 20 across, fly agaric was used as a fly trap. Small pieces of the cap placed in saucers of milk attracted flies, which were killed by the ibotenic acid in the mushroom.You’ll be able to see them in woods and heathlands near birch trees where they form a mycorrhizal relationship by wrapping around the root hairs to take sugar from the tree, in exchange for nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus.The Met Office’s 2019 report shows our climate is changing. Last year was the 12th warmest since 1884, and data collected by Nature’s Calendar volunteers is helping scientists understand the impact on wildlife. By Jane Halliday*Nature’s Calendar is a citizen science project run by the Woodland Trust and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology to study phenology (the impact of seasonal changes in plants and animals). Referenceshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20141008-why-should-i-love-ivyhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/natureuk/2010/09/early-autumn-fruits.shtmlhttps://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/about/state-of-climatehttps://naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2020/state-of-the-uk-climate-2019/https://naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2020/autumn_the-forgotten-season/https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/natures-home-magazine/birds-and-wildlife-articles/features/birds-and-berries/https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/fungi-and-lichens/fly-agaric/https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/ivy/
