Where to watch and how to encourage...

As the leaves are falling and the temperatures are dropping, this November is the perfect time to get out and about to see and encourage wildlife. We are getting a number of enquiries about this so take the plunge and join them!

If you prefer to do your bit closer to home then grab your coat and gloves and get busy in the garden, here are a few ideas that can help wildlife this autumn;

1. Put up a nesting box (starling and house sparrow boxes are particularly useful to help these birds of conservation concern).
2. Create leaf piles in quiet corners of the garden
3. Plant ivy Hedera helix, one of natures top plants for wildlife
4. Build a log pile or hibernacula for wildlife to shelter over the cold winter months.
5. Create a water feature for birds to drink and bathe

If your local birds are still few and far between, don't worry they will be back soon. The natural food in the wider countryside is keeping them happy for the time being but this will all change when the leaves have fallen and the temperatures have dropped as birds will then head back to gardens to take advantage of the food and shelter on offer.

If you fancy spreading your wings, there are plenty of places to go to see some truly magical wildlife spectacles on RSPB reserves right now, some of the most frequently enquired about  recently have been starling murmurations, flocks of geese, wader roosts and birds of prey. If you have a favourite RSPB reserve where you like to go to watch these spectacles or other wildlife that is around at this time of year, please tell us about it with a comment on this blog.