Autumn and winter are great times for bird-spotting as the leaves fall from the trees and there are less spaces for birds to hide! The air has been full of the songs of robins, wrens, great, blue and long-tailed tits, and we’ve even had a few visits from a little egret. It was quite a shock cycling to work and startling this snow-white bird out of the stream! Watch out for its dangling yellow legs and long black beak.  

Over the autumn there was a flush of fungi poking their fruiting bodies out of the ground - mushroom-season was upon us! Halloween saw inkcaps of all shapes and sizes around the nature reserve, including majestic shaggy inkcaps and the delicate hare’s-foot inkcap. Even as winter has taken hold, mushrooms are still adding splashes of colour to the ground, as can be seen with the bright orange velvet shank.  

We’ve had a whole host of seasonal events over the last few months. Many brave souls dared to take our spooky Halloween walk and encountered our staff and volunteers dressed as wildlife that goes bump in the night. Bog Meadows is very invested in the local community and we hosted a number of workshops for St. Gall’s Hen’s Shed, including DIY lip balms and crafting sustainable decorations. Nurses from the Royal Victoria also joined us for a well-deserved wellbeing day that involved tree planting, mindfulness and smores around the fire. Our young people have been getting involved as well, with the Wildlife Watch group out detecting bats and listening for nocturnal wildlife.  

Sadly this week brings my traineeship at Bog Meadows to a close. I have learned so much in my time here and will miss working with such an incredible team and great community every day. Thankfully, Bog Meadows are always happy to welcome volunteers, and I’ve a sneaking suspicion I will be back on the reserve soon!