October is the month when rain and wind start to take their toll on the vegetation around our countryside. The soft fruits of the bramble soon grow mould in these damp conditions but not all damage is a result of the elements. Next time you go out picking blackberries take a look at the leaves of the brambles, you may spot that some leaves have trails across them. These trails look almost like a snail has crossed them and taken out the goodness but, in fact, the damage is caused inside the leaf. The larvae of one of our ‘micro-moths’, Stigmella Aurella, are so small that they eat away at the interior of the leaf between the upper and lower epidermal layers. They then over-winter inside the leaf before emerging to pupate in the spring. If you look carefully you will see that the trail, or mine as it is known, gets larger as the larva grows in size; it also leaves a trail of frass (caterpillar faeces) in a characteristic pattern which specialists use to identify the species concerned!

It’s all change in the bird world, most of our summer migrants have now left with the exception of one or two ‘hangers-on’. That doesn’t mean that there is less ornithological interest, in fact October is the month of the year when twitchers get most excited. Occasional rarities are carried into Cornwall every autumn either by the wind or by the migration of large numbers of other, more common birds. One such common bird which occurs in very large numbers is the meadow pipit. This is a species that actually nests in Cornwall on the moors and around the coast but with a mass inward movement from the north and east in October there is no better time to watch and learn how to identify them.

The meadow pipit might look a little like a song thrush in a photograph but its size is more comparable to a sparrow. Its delicate beak is best suited to finding insects in its grassland habitat where it spends most of its time. They can occur anywhere in Cornwall but the greatest numbers are found along the coast where the grass is fairly short. Look carefully at the spots and you might notice an accumulation of markings that often occurs in the middle of the breast. The key to finding meadow pipits in the first instance is to learn their flight call which consists of a very high pitched ‘tsip-tsip’. Once you have mastered this call you will begin to associate the sound with autumn migration.

You may think it is too late in the year to go dragonfly watching and for most species you would be correct. If you see a dragonfly in October it is most likely to be the common darter. This is quite a small species for the group of dragonflies but it is bold and relatively easy to approach. The male is red and the female yellow with some blue underneath but by October their colours are beginning to fade. This is one species that holds its wings angled slightly forward when at rest; you should be able to find them on calm days around any source of still water, reed beds are a particular favourite.

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