October marks the start of our autumn work plan, which includes performing scrub clearance at Whisby. The bird nesting season has come to a close, and reptiles and amphibians become far more dormant, entering a hibernation-like state where they only emerge during milder days. This winding down of animal activity, as well as plant life beginning to enter senescence, is the perfect time for vegetation cutbacks. One of the reasons this is done is to protect our habitats from becoming overgrown. You may have noticed the south-east area of the railway bridge is looking rather different recently. We have removed the gorse with the help of one of our work parties to create a mix of scrub heights around the bridge. This scrub clearing is done on the surrounding patches of land rotationally year to year. Creating a variety of scrub heights benefits different wildlife species - for example, blackbirds will prefer to nest in higher scrub compared to wrens, which favour lower nesting sites.

Now that we are well into autumn, the increased rainfall also means that we are dealing with some unintentional vegetation clearance in the form of slumped trees! The prolonged dry conditions over summer have caused the soil to shrink. When a heavy downpour occurs, the water fills the cracks in the soil, creating an unsupportive mud. This reduces the tree’s stability and can cause it to slump. If you do see a slumped tree that looks as though it is likely to fall on a footpath, then please report it to the wardens' office.

Now that we’ve finished clearing foliage from our viewpoints and hides, you should be able to appreciate our winter visitors from Northern Europe such as the occasional whooper swan and goldeneye - like this one photographed on Thorpe Lake by Whisby volunteer Hugh Jones.

One of the iconic sights of autumn is the skeins of pink-footed geese flying overhead on their passage back from their Arctic breeding grounds. You may hear pink-footed geese before you see them as they make a loud, honking sound when they fly overhead in the archetypal v-formation. They don’t tend to land at Whisby, however, preferring wetlands and farmlands for feeding on. This time of year, though, we do see a large increase in the number of shoveler at the reserve. The best place to spot these large-billed ducks is on Teal Lake but if you don’t fancy the long trek then we do get a few on Thorpe Lake as well.