Autumn still holds sway in Shropshire

Across the county, mammals and insects who should be wrapped up for winter are still out and about, trees are bathed in leaves and flowers and berries are prolific.

John Hughes, development manager at Shropshire Wildlife Trust, said autumn has been a prolonged, warm and fruitful season.

He said: "The warm and damp weather we've recently had is what keeps everything going and growing. We've had an unnaturally warm autumn. Usually by now we see leaves falling. Some are, but the majority are still on the trees.

"Apples haven't fallen from the trees and here at the wildlife trust we have had calls from people asking why they are not seeing any birds in their gardens feeding from bird tables. The reason is that there is still so much food around naturally on bushes and trees.

"This has been a very prolific year for fruit and berries, and while normally we would see them stripped from the trees and bushes by now, this year they haven't been.

"There are also a huge amount of insects still about, again great food for birds and mammals. The snow and ice we had in March and April really knocked the wildlife and it did take them a while to recover. It pushed everything back developmentally.

"People checking nest boxes should be finding sleeping dormice within at this time of year, but they are staying up as there are masses of fruit, berries and nuts for them to get nice and plump on in preparation for winter."

Mr Hughes believes the warm and dry summer en-sured that fruit and berry yields were up for autumn.

According to data obtained from the Woodland Trust red, yellow, brown and orange tints appeared this year on ash, elder, oak and horse chestnut trees around the UK about14 days later than the average date recorded over the last 12 years.

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