November

Autumn is fading and winter is beginning to creep in, leading to misty mornings and the last fiery leaves falling from the trees.

As plant life wanes, nests of birds and mammals are revealed. Hedgerows are filled with berries, providing a welcome supply of food for our feathered friends over the winter months. Garden bird feeders take on a greater importance from now until spring.

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Trees and plants

Mighty oak trees rain acorns down during November, where hungry jays and squirrels eat and disperse them. Hazel trees produce their distinctive catkins or ‘lamb’s tails’, swaying in the autumnal winds.

Wall ferns and spleenworts come into their element at this time of year, being some of the few plants to keep their green, and thriving in the cooler, wetter conditions. Ivy will produce late yellow-green flowers, feeding scarce insects on rare sunny days.

Mammals

Stoats in the north moult their russet summer coats, and take on white ermine fur for winter camouflage. Grey seals can be seen giving birth to their pups in November. With their soft, white, furry coats they can be spotted along the west, north and north-eastern coasts.

Dormice will be hibernating now, and hedgehogs are fattening themselves before their long winter sleep. Make sure to check bonfires before you light them, as these are warm and attractive places for a hibernating hedgehog!

North West: Farne Islands
Wales: North Pembrokeshire
East of England: Blakeney Point
Devon & Cornwall: Lundy Island, Cape Cornwall
Northern Ireland: Strangford Lough

Birds

Rookeries become obvious to the eye as the leaves disappear, communities of rooks still congregate in their treetop nests and will restore them in time for spring. The nest holes of woodpeckers are also easier to spot, many preferring trees which are dead or old with rotting heartwood.

Owls are more noticeable as they are forced to spend longer in the air searching for prey when mice and vole numbers fall. Starling flocks are still swirling in the cold evening air, and teasel seedheads offer great feasts for finches. Wintering birds will also be congregating in large numbers, in areas such as Wicken Fen.

Fungus

© National Trust / Richard Allen

November is still a fantastic time for fungus, which will proliferate in woodlands and grasslands until the first frosts hit. Although autumn is the main time for mushrooms and toadstools, fungi such as brackets can be seen throughout the year.

Wessex: Mendip Hills, Tyntesfield
East of England: Ashridge
Devon & Cornwall: Killerton, Knightshayes Court
South East England: Runnymede

Adult Atlantic salmon are migrating upstream to their spawning grounds. Although the rivers are swelled from the heavy rains, the salmon must still leap to overcome weirs and waterfalls. Once they reach their destination they lay and fertilise their eggs. Then finally, utterly exhausted, in the place of their birth, they will die.

The next generation slowly develop through the winter as eggs on the river bed. In the spring they hatch and spend the next few years in the rivers, feeding and growing until they are ready to make their epic journey to the sea.

Devon & Cornwall: Watersmeet
Northern Ireland: River Bann – Portstewart Strand

A frosty winter scene with swans gliding on the water at the River Wey Navigations, Surrey

The National Trust

November