Autumn is officially here! While the long summer days may be over, early autumn has just as much to enjoy so get out there, enjoy the sunshine and see what you can find!
Autumn is the season of plenty and throughout the month of September elderberries, haws, hazelnuts, beechnuts, crab apples and rosehips along with many other berries and nuts are readily available, bringing a cornucopia of food for the wildlife to enjoy.
However, with the surplus of food available at this time of year the birds' attention is drawn elsewhere and feeders can often seem a bit quiet, but the birds haven't vanished! Look out for seeding plants like grasses, thistles and docks - they provide a bounty of energy rich food for finches like the Goldfinch, Siskin and Bullfinch which need the extra calories to prepare for the winter.
Unusually last autumn, Jays were regularly seen at the reserve, with frequent sightings around oak trees on the Barr Loch Trail. Acorns are the primary source of food for these corvids, which cache large numbers in order to secure a food supply throughout the leaner winter months. Fluctuations in acorn numbers can dictate Jay movements so it may be that there was a good supply of acorns on the reserve last year, resulting in plenty of sightings of a species that is relatively uncommon here.
Just some of the fruits and nuts you can find on a walk around the reserve this time of year. Top left to bottom right; rosehips, alder cones, crab apples and haw berries.
Just like the birds, September will also be an important period for bats who need to feed up on insects before they hibernate through the winter.
There are 17 species of bat in the UK, though only 9 of these are found in Scotland. The four most common species you are likely to encounter in and around Lochwinnoch are the Soprano Pipistrelle, Common Pipistrelle, Daubenton's Bat and Brown Long-Eared Bat. If you see a bat whizzing around late in the evening it can be hard to determine what species it is - this is where bat detectors come in!
Bat detectors are devices which work by converting bat calls, the majority of which are inaudible to human ears, into frequencies which we can hear. As different species communicate within different frequency ranges detectors can show you which frequency the bats are communicating at, allowing you to differentiate them.
Pipistrelle bat Image by Johanna from Pixabay
Sightings at the reserve have been somewhat quiet over the last month as the various summer migrants have started to depart. However, if you turn your sights towards the Barr Loch you'll find that the numbers of waterfowl are already on the rise. Over 100 tufted ducks have already been counted in the past week along with increasing numbers of goldeneye and the first reports of wigeon and a single whooper swan. As autumn progresses these numbers will continue to rise and, who knows, we may see rarities like the smew returning once more.
Tufted duck by Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
Written by Lauren McLean