01/10/2026
Things to look out for in October
🐦Although the summer visitors have now flown back south, Redwings are among the birds visiting the UK for the colder months. Redwings are small thrushes with rusty red patches under their wings and white stripes over their eyes. They arrive in late September and October under the cover of darkness. Listen out for their soft ‘seep seep’ and look for them feasting on berries in trees and hedgerows. They arrive in their thousands and can be heard all over the UK.
🦔Autumn is a busy time for Hedgehogs. They are out and about on the hunt for worms and beetles, and getting ready for hibernation. If you want to help your local hodgehogs, you could consider putting out food such as meaty catfood, special hedgehog food and water (but not mealworms or milk as these can cause them health problems). You could also create a hedgehog home to give them somewhere safe and warm to hibernate.
🍂Every child knows that October is conker season and the time for collecting these beautiful, glossy seeds of the Horse Chestnut tree. Despite being unrelated, they are similar the sweet chestnut, but are posionous to humans and most animals, included horses despite being named after them. But, if you’re a forager, you can use conkers to make a natural detergent, as a moth deterent in your wardrobe, and, of course, the classic game of conkers. The annual World Conker Championship is held every year over the border in Northamptonshire on the second Sunday of October.
🦉Owls may be associated with October via Halloween, but it is also one of their more active months, as young owls head out to seek their own territory. Owl parents who have cared for and raised their young decide it’s time their children found their own home. During the months of autumn, tawny owls make more noise than the other owl species put together, as they ward each other off their patch.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund
