Autumn has arrived at the heath and the colours are breathtaking! Our birch woodlands are awash with reds, oranges and yellows as the leaves change colour. Fungi of all shapes, and sizes have been popping up all over the woodland and heathland floor, none as iconic as the wonderful fly agaric. The bracken has turned a warm copper colour and the morning mist over the heather gives the heath an ethereal look.
We were delighted to welcome back the Dorset Fungus Group who led a fascinating fungi foray around the heath. An amazing 78 species of fungus were recorded including 4 red list species! Many of them had fantastic names, some of our favourites being the blusher, poison pie, sticky scalycap, slippery jack and plums and custard!
This month we have also welcomed back our lovely cows who have been holidaying all summer in the water meadows. They are now back on north park and ready to continue their very important conservation grazing work. They are very friendly, but as always do keep dogs under very close control around them (preferably on a lead) especially as we do have a calf in the herd at the moment.
The autumnal weather has inspired some wonderful events this month, including:
- a willow pumpkin workshop
- astronomy night
- the first session of our 3 part bonsai course
At the end of the month, we celebrated spooky season with a brilliant line up of events for kids, including:
- Halloween crafts
- an owl encounter evening
- owl pellet picking
- our Halloween shadow hunt trail
We also welcomed back our friends at Bournemouth Natural Science Society for their ever-popular Spooky Serpents and Creepy Crawlers event. We hear a few fears were conquered on the day! The park was very busy with lots of visitors enjoying the site and meeting our larger-than-life spider, Sandy (made using a hay bale from the farmer next door!).