The autumn equinox on the 23rd of September marks one of the two times in the year where day and night are the same length. As the hours of daylight change, London’s wildlife is also undergoing a seasonal shift.
Migrating species bring seasonal interest to autumn for bird watchers. The Wildlife and Wetland Trust’s London Wetland Centre explains that autumn can be an excellent time to spot wildlife and provides a daily list of monthly highlights for example, “summer birds like Chiffchaff, Whitethroat and Blackcap are starting to leave their breeding territories on site, while other summer visitors such as Wheatear, Whinchat, Yellow Wagtail, Swallow, Common Sandpiper and Redstart are passing through from other parts of the country heading southwards.”
Another seasonal change is the leaf colour of deciduous trees, like the horse chestnut tree leaves pictured. Interestingly, the horse chestnut was introduced to Britain only in the 1600s, but has become naturalised, but it is of course now one of autumns iconic species for children, who can play ‘conkers’ at this time of year – read more from the Woodland Trust page here.
September 2014