Fresh mornings, bright pink skies, and crisp leaves underfoot, October has been a month filled with both autumnal delights and unseasonably mild days.

Let's take a closer look at some wildlife sightings from October.

Brockholes

With 250 acres of beautiful nature reserve to explore, Brockholes is a truly special place to visit at any time of year.

This month, the woodlands were brimming with fungi, including candle snuff, clustered bonnet, amethyst deceiver, and jelly ear, meanwhile, at the water's edge, kingfishers have been showing well, flashing electric blue against a russet backdrop. Little egrets too have been delighting our visitors this month and even an otter, a characteristically elusive creature, has been spotted catching eels in the River Ribble, with some fantastic photos captured by Leslie.

The European otter is one of our top predators and an excellent swimmer, with webbed feet and a dense coat. Whilst an encounter like Leslie's is a rare treat, there are other tell-tale signs of otter you can look out for; their pawprints (five toes) and their droppings (known as spraints) which will often be twinkling with fish scales.

Middleton Nature Reserve

Middleton Nature Reserve in Heysham is a real hidden gem. Formerly an industrial site, the 28.8 hectare reserve has since transformed into an invaluable mosaic of ponds and associated wetland habitats, scrub, fen, and grassland.

During the spring and summer, the site is humming with dragonflies, boasting a regionally important assemblage of species including, red-veined darter and black-tailed skimmer.

During the colder months, the reserve becomes an important wintering spot for short-eared owls, water rail, and Cetti's warbler.

Whitethroats too can be seen at the reserve, but never usually so late into the year. Whitethroats are summer migrants, arriving to the UK in April to breed before returning to sub-Saharan Africa and Asia in early October. This behaviour, however, appears to be changing, linked to climate change and a whitethroat recorded by Janet Packham at this reserve last month was the latest ever recorded in Lancashire by a couple of days, showing just how vital up-to-date wildlife records are.

Manchester

Meanwhile, in Manchester, wildlife has been appearing even in some of our most built-up areas, showing just how important our cities can be for wildlife when we make space for nature to thrive.

During a site visit to the Etihad Stadium in October, members of our team were delighted to spot a confident little bank vole nibbling at the dandelions. Bank voles are chestnut brown with white underparts, our smallest vole, they can be found in hedgerows, woodlands, parks, gardens - and football stadiums!

Common pipistrelle has also been confirmed at Castlefield Viaduct this month. Our smallest species of bat, weighing less than a £1 coin, was spotted flying around the newly planted trees during the recent 'Sky Park after Dark' event, which members of our team attended and spoke at.

Morecambe Bay

'Oh, we do love to be beside the seaside!' where our project, The Bay, has been running weekly wellbeing sessions along the coast.

The Bay is an internationally important nature conservation site, offering a refuge for both people and wildlife alike, and a walk along the beach never fails to disappoint. 

A particularly curious find is the home of a honeycomb worm. A reef-building worm, each individual builds itself a protective tube from sand and shell fragments, which together form a reef-like structure that looks exactly like honeycomb.

This honeycomb reef provides a habitat for other species and is a feature for which Marine Conservation Zones can be designated. 

Participants discovered honeycomb worm colonising the rock groyne sea defences at Rossall during a recent honeycomb hunt event and learned how to record its presence using GPS to support the ongoing monitoring of this important species.

What will you spot at our nature reserves this month? Let us know on social media using the buttons below.