South Notts Local Group

Bringing the work of the Trust to your doorstep

Pictures from our woodland-in-autumn stroll around Wilford Hill Wood nature reserve on Sunday 12^th September 2010.

	September sunshine filtering through the ‘new’ ash grove near the entrance
Snails are plentiful at this time of year, and climb well up into the trees. This group is about two metres up the trunk; the highest we spotted were nearly six metres up, along a branch!
	Mushrooms and toadstools are also plentiful in the autumn, when the damper, cooler weather triggers funghi into producing them to distribute spores. These are growing through the leaf mould on the woodland floor.
While this one is growing out of a rotten tree stump. Fallen trees are left to rot, to provide habitat for funghi and for invertebrates. These in turn provide food for small mammals and birds.
	Berries, such as these on a hawthorn, are another good food source. And this year we seem to have an excellent crop!
The leaf canopy in the older part of the wood is still quite thick – leaves were only just starting to fall – and where the sun breaks through it shows the colours in their glory.