Norfolk Wildlife Trust looks at autumn's natural wonders

Pink-footed Geese

By the end of October most of our wintering pink-footed geese have arrived in Norfolk from their summer home in Greenland. Their huge flocks, called skeins, can be found anywhere over the skies of Norfolk, even travelling over Norwich city centre. They particularly like to feed on discarded sugar beet tops, and will move around the county looking for newly harvested sugar beet fields. Unlike the grey lag and Canada geese, they are truly wild and take flight if approached. They are quite diminutive compared to both of these birds and they also have a chocolate-brown head, a small pale-tipped bill, and of course pink feet! When seen in flight, listen for their distinctive ‘wink-wink’ call and the large ‘V’ formations spread across the sky.

Raptor Roost Watch

Our resident birds-of-prey are augmented in autumn by birds from continental Europe, and Norfolk also plays host in autumn and winter to hen harrier and merlin. Autumn migration is often the time for unusual and rare vagrant birds to arrive in Norfolk. The red-footed falcon, found predominately in Russia, regularly turns up in the Broads or along Norfolk’s coast during this time.

The site of a marsh harrier, on the hunt for voles, quartering a grazing marsh during a still, frosty day is magnificent. You can see marsh harrier and other birds of prey from NWT’s raptor watch-point at Stubb Mill, Hickling Broad & Marshes. The best time to visit is at dusk when up to fifty birds (sometimes many more) come to roost for the night.  

Fungi Foray

Fungi are most obvious when they produce their strangely shaped and often colourful fruiting bodies. There are many thousands of large fungus species in the UK, with most producing their peculiar spore-laden toadstools and mushrooms in autumn. They grow in a variety of habitats particularly rotting wood, rich woodland soil or even the garden lawn, although they can be found in some unlikely places, such as sand dunes. Look out for bracket fungus growing on rotten tree stumps, and in silver birch woodlands look for the fly agaric, the red toadstool with white spots associated with tales of fairies and gnomes              

Autumn Moths

Unlikely butterflies, some species of moth can be active through the colder months, and there are several species that are autumn specialists. Many of the large colourful autumn moths can be found in parks and gardens, even small urban gardens. There are a number of light traps available on the market that harmlessly catch the moths, allowing for closer inspection. However, a bright light on a white sheet can attract them just as well. You could try strips of cloth soaked in red wine and sugar, the more discerning moths love it! Look for the stunning red underwing moth or the beautiful green and black merveille du jour

Starling Murmurations

This time of year finds our resident starlings being joined by several million of their brethren from Scandinavia and Russia. At dusk, during the late autumn and winter, they form large excited flocks; a precursor to settling down to roost together for the night. The flocks, sometimes numbering up to a hundred thousand birds, swirl and contort in strange fluid patterns called a murmuration. This is believed to help protect them from hunting falcons picking out an individual. These massive flocks often form to roost in large stands of reed, so NWT Hickling Broad or the RSPB Strumpshaw Fen are great places to see one of these spell-binding events.  Smaller roost sites can be found in many of Norfolk’s larger towns, and the stanchions holding up Cromer pier are well known for attracting many thousands of starling.

Rutting Deer                                                                                                        Autumn is the red deer rutting period, and a time when the stags match up to one another, seeking dominance and mating rights over the hinds. Often the roaring, parallel walking, and posturing will turn into a fight, and if the pair are evenly matched it can become quite an aggressive encounter. Truly wild herds of red deer are scattered across lowland England. In Norfolk, the Brecks, the Broads and along the coast into the heaths of Suffolk hold strong populations, and late September to November is a great time to see them. Going out to watch rutting deer in the crisp autumn air is a great way to enjoy the countryside. If you do go looking for deer, be careful! Although the red deer stags are more visible during the rut they lose their inhibitions and can become aggressive. It is best to view them from a distance with binoculars and it’s wise to leave your dog at home too.

Winter Thrushes

When walking along a hedgerow of hawthorn and buckthorn listen out for the chattering of newly arrived ‘winter’ thrushes. The fieldfare and redwing are two attractive species of thrush that spend their autumn and winter in Norfolk. They breed in Scandinavia, but fly south to the UK for our milder weather. As the autumn progresses into winter, and the stock of hedgerow berries diminishes, they can often be found searching for earthworms on school playing-fields and open parkland.     

Garden Cross Spiders

The wonderful orb web spiders’ artistry and engineering is most obvious in the autumn. The largest orb web spider is the garden cross, and as the name implies can be found in most gardens at this time of year. This spider’s web, with its unmistakeable pattern, is a treat to behold on a chilly autumn morning, particularly when bejewelled with frosty droplets that glisten and shimmer like crystal. 

Owls

There are five regular species of owl in Norfolk, and all are present in the autumn and winter. Some species like the short-eared owl become more numerous as birds migrate in from Northern Europe. You can often find short-eared owl hunting in daylight across the counties marshes and fens. Fine autumn weather will also find barn owls hunting during the day, particularly if it follows a spell of heavy rain. The male tawny owls will be finding their voice, and starting their ‘twit’ call, with the females responding with a drawn out ‘ta-woo’.   

Jays Stashing Acorns 

The loud cackling of the beautiful jay is reverberating through our woods and hedgerows at the moment, for they are busily spending the autumn burying acorns. This brightly coloured crow, in its preparation for winter, will stash away hundreds of individual acorns over a wide ranging area. Amazingly it will remember the location of 99% of its autumn cache. The forgotten 1% will grow to be oak saplings, for the jay is the reason oak scrub can spread so quickly and up-hill!