Autumn's here which means apples, berries, pears – and some rather drunk animals. Here we look at the wildlife that benefits from this season's fruit crop.
The hedgerows are bursting with berries now, providing food for both people and animals. Blackberries give energy to animals such as mice and badgers. But the real berry-eaters are the birds (in case you're wondering, apparently the woodpigeon in this picture did manage to swallow this berry in the end!).
Purple poo
Birds and berries rely on each other for survival. Song and mistle thrushes, blackbirds, redwings and fieldfares need berries throughout the winter. They are a good option when the ground is too frozen to hunt for snails and worms, and insects are scarce.
Birds don't digest berry seeds, which pass through the gut and come out the other end. Berry eaters often deposit the seeds far away from where they ate them, helping to spread the plants far and wide.
You know when birds have started snacking on berries because you start to see purple bird poo. There is even a Facebook group dedicated to the phenomenon!
Apples and pears
These fruits – ripe right now in an orchard near you - make good food for wildlife, too. Bees, butterflies, moths and hoverflies feast on fallen fruit. Great spotted woodpeckers peck at apples in search of the grubs inside.
Birds will happily tuck into soft or bruised apples and pears. So if you're lucky enough to have a fruit tree in your garden, you can enjoy the perfect ones and leave the rest for your birds. If you have a surplus of apples, you could consider making apple bird feeders.
Boozy birds
The only problem with all this fruit is that after a while it starts to ferment. Birds, fruit flies and even hedgehogs can get drunk after indulging themselves. Waxwings have been reported flying into windows after getting drunk on fermenting berries.
It must be horrible to find a waxwing that's crash-landed, but imagine being this chap in Sweden, who found an enormous, drunk elk stuck in his neighbour's apple tree!
Home sweet home
If you're keen on helping wildlife by planting fruit trees, crab apples are a fantastic option for you and nature. The colourful flowers are pretty in spring and great for bees. The fruits add autumn colour to your garden whilst feeding birds such as robins, starlings, greenfinches and thrushes. The native crab apple is also home to up to 90 different insect species. It really is a sweet home!