Autumn is definitely moving into winter, and our wildlife sightings across Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside told the tale of the changing seasons.

Mere Sands Wood

Mere Sands Wood unfortunately became a casualty of Storm Arwen and was closed for several days while we cleared the fallen trees, but before then, visitors reported some lovely autumnal wildlife sightings. Jays were spotted caching nuts in the woodland and flying noisily between trees. Redwings arrived in their droves, followed by the odd winter brambling. On the woodland floor there were still plenty of fungi to fascinate mushroom enthusiasts, including amethyst deceiver and the spooky-looking dead man’s fingers fungus.

Brockholes

Brockholes always looks beautiful in the autumn frosts, and November was no exception. It turned the reserve into a winter wonderland where stonechats, goldcrests, linnets, bullfinches and roe deer only added to the Christmas card scene. One lucky visitor even spotted a roe deer swimming across the Ribble in the beautiful early morning light.

A couple of whooper swans dropped into Number One Pit; gadwall, tufted ducks and wigeon paddled around the lakes; and the hawthorn tunnel filled with redwings and fieldfares feasting on berries.

The highlight of the month though was, undoubtedly, the arrival of a belted kingfisher, which was first spotted by local birder and fisherman George Shannon. These large kingfishers are usually found in Florida, but this wayward bird seemed quite at home along the Ribble. Belted kingfishers are blue-grey with white underparts and an impressive punky crest. There are fewer than 20 records of them in the UK so it was incredible to have one visiting the reserve. Craig Smith took the wonderful pictures above, including one that shows the incredible size difference between the belted kingfisher and our own common kingfisher.

Warton Crag

Our Warton Crag nature reserve in Carnforth may be best known for its rare fritillary butterflies, but it has a whole different atmosphere that must be experienced in autumn and winter. Moody mists roll into the woods and the views over Morecambe Bay from the top of the Crag take on an icy beauty in the crisp air. And though the butterflies have disappeared for another year, there is still lots to see. In November our visitors delighted in the antics of woodland birds including nuthatches, blue tits and wrens in the woods.

Middleton Nature Reserve

The birds recorded at Middleton Nature Reserve in November definitely added a winter flavour. Bramblings, fieldfares and redwings were spotted alongside robins, goldcrests and lesser redpolls. Gadwall and teal joined the water rails and little grebes on the No Swimming Pond, and a pair of bearded tits even dropped by! They landed on the central marsh and called noisily for around half a minute before flying back off to the south.

Rindle Moss

Sitting close to our Little Woolden Moss and Astley Moss nature reserves, Rindle Moss is part of the Chat Moss peatlands in Greater Manchester, and we’re due to start restoration work there very soon! Last month, our team and the wonderful Joshua Styles of the North West Rare Plant Initiative conducted some surveys to see if any peatland plants were still growing on this seriously degraded site, and they were pleasantly surprised! The team found several patches of sphagnum moss and strict haircap moss that had managed to hang on. This is great news for the future of the site, and we can’t wait to start clearing scrub and re-wetting the peat to help these plants thrive, and allow even more life to reclaim Rindle Moss. Huge thanks to Biffa Award and our other partners for funding the restoration of this site through our Mosslands Connect project.

What have you seen at our nature reserves recently? We’d love to know! Click one of the icons below to send us your sightings on social media.