Autumn at Hothfield Volunteers Update - December 2021

Summer migrants have flown and this month we start to watch for winter arrivals such as the egrets and the European relatives of resident snipe, siskin and redwings. Summer flowers have faded but in October low mounds of dwarf gorse Ulex minor were blooming and now the bright yellow flowers of the larger common gorse, Ulex europaeus, will gleam across the heath in good weather throughout the winter, providing pollen for insects and shelter for insects, birds and mammals. Check for the unexpected scent of coconut on mild days. 

The full flush of autumn fungi provides a visual feast, flashes of bright colour as well as the quieter mushroomy palette. In October photographers searched eagerly for the first fly agarics, Amanita muscaria, fairy tale red with white warts and poisonous, growing in symbiosis with birches and pines. I regularly check a small rotting log at the pedestrian entrance opposite Cade Road car park for the candle snuff fungus Xylaria hypoxylon. Too small and tough to be edible, it has anti-viral properties and compounds that are effective against some human carcinomas. 

We hope for rich autumn leaf colour through November as nowadays deciduous trees hold their leaves late into the month. The carotenoid pigments that produce the golden and russet hues have been present in the leaves throughout summer, while the anthocyanins giving reds and purples only develop in late summer; these hues are revealed as the green chlorophyll degrades. The chemical processes involved are very complex, and triggered by a variety of factors including temperature, day length and the vagaries of the preceding seasons. 

Insects, mammals and birds have enjoyed the autumn feast of fruits and seeds. Last year was a good mast year, the term for a heavy harvest of acorns, beech and sweet chestnut, all in the beech family, and of hazel in the birch family. This year there is a national dearth of acorns but plenty of the rest. The reasons for the cycle of variation in seed production are not fully understood. Mast is from the Nordic mas meaning food. I have yet to discover how years without acorns affect the life cycle of the knopper gall wasp that causes the distorted acorns. The birches however have seeded as generously as ever as volunteers know well. Their year-round work was boosted in mid-October by a corporate task force.  

Peacocks, red admirals and commas that fed on flowers and rotting fruit well into October, are now in hibernation as adults. Other butterflies and moths spend winter as a chrysalis underground or attached to a leaf, stem or tree trunk, or as a caterpillar deep in long grass.  Protect those hibernating in gardens and encourage birds by leaving untidy corners and seedheads standing, and ground mulched rather than dug over.  

Margery Thomas 

Everyone is welcome to visit Hothfield Heathlands but please remember this is first and foremost a haven for wildlife.  Please keep dogs close to you at all times, do not let your dog run and play off the paths and through the areas of heather and gorse. Make sure anything you bring with you leaves the reserve with you. Remove litter, dog mess and place all dog bags in the bins. 

Hothfield Heathlands is one of the best spots of wildlife in the county, with your help we can keep it that way. 

For more information visit our website www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk 

Ian Rickards, Area Manager, Kent Wildlife Trust