Discover Autumnwatch in Berkshire

The Red Kite population has soared in West Berkshire recently

Autumnwatch has returned to BBC2 on Fridays, with viewers being able to witness the gradual seasonal changes to British wildlife.

Join BBC Berkshire as we experience Autumn with local naturalist Jason Ball from Sheepdrove Farm in Lambourn.

Each week, Jason will post a fresh photograph of this most magical season as it casts its spell on Berkshire.

Below he has highlighted his favourite nature events taking place in Berkshire this autumn.

View Jason's Autumnwatch gallery here.

Week eight

Jason Ball has captured trees balding fast along a canal

How the scenes have changed since we began our Berkshire Autumnwatch! Do you remember basking in dry, summery weather - when the swallows were still with us?

Now even beech trees, which hold onto their blazing, rusty foliage for as long as they can in autumn, are balding fast. Leaves are everywhere, strewn over lawns, blown into doorways, washed into rivers. Tall trees are like empty hands reaching for the sky.

Fresh rainwater adds rush to the Lambourn and Kennet rivers, where I watched Brown Trout this week. I couldn't identify various other fish but these rivers are home to Dace, Grayling, Brook Lamprey and Bullhead.

Jason captured a trout swimming in a canal

River restoration in Newbury is forging the way for these fish to make it further upstream in future. New deadwood habitat and narrowed sections look bare right now, but by next autumn they will help to provide better conditions for river wildlife.

Walking along the River Kennet near Kintbury I looked again for Water Vole, but all I could find were signs, such as mini larders of chopped grass. Must keep watching, must get a better vole photo...

View Jason's Autumnwatch gallery here.

Week seven

Colder, wetter, the weather reminds us of the unstoppable transformation of season. More and more trees surrender their leaves to autumn.

As the sky gathered breath for a gale, I watched a horde of Buzzard and Red Kite hang and surge against the grey clouds.

Jason spotted a Marsh Tit gathering sunflower seeds

Certain birds are grouping together more now - even skylarks. And when I caused a hare to sprint away from a grassy hiding place, I guessed that it's saving energy by leaving the escape later than a summertime hare would.

In the garden, small birds feel the loss of plentiful winged prey - they're going nuts at the feeders now. I noticed a manic Marsh Tit relentlessly flitting between the bird table and every nearby notch - storing sunflower seeds like there was no tomorrow!

A wet and wild weasel in the rain got me jumping this week. I was amazed to see one in the garden. Three times it zipped up and down a path, and away again.

I ran outside, expecting it to have disappeared, but there it was, running back and forth across the road. Then along another section of what I think must be a series of short patrols.

The weasel is Britain's smallest carnivore

I froze still against a wall and let the weasel zip on. Obsessed by its hunt, it was only slightly distracted when it noticed me, as it ran nearby under a garage door, out again within a second, and disappeared along a fence line.

See the photo of the weasel Jason spotted in his autumn gallery.

Week six

My picture for the gallery this week is a Common Darter, the last dragonfly you'll see before frosts gnaw the ground, and possibly afterwards too.

I saw these hardy dragons mating and laying eggs in October, and I've seen they're still about this week.

Part of the Common Darter charm is that they sunbathe in prominent places, which is handy for the photographer if the dragonfly sits still for long enough.

Always alert for prey and danger, it has astoundingly keen vision.

One trick I've learned - they often return to the same sunny perch, and if your hand happens to be next to that, you can become their chosen platform. Such a wicked predator sat on your hand is fantastic!

Jason spent the week water vole-spotting

Walk the Kennet and Avon canal near Hungerford if you're keen to see a water vole. My unimpressive photo of this cute creature (spot the vole!) is the best I could get without donning a wetsuit.

But watching was fun, while this vole felt safe enough to sit and be observed chopping up sedge for supper. Unfortunately it isn't safe. Mink are out there.

Water habitats are always an good place to watch for wildlife, and autumn is as good a time as any.

Whether you're a pond dipper or a bird spotter there are always things to see and hear - perhaps the trills of shy Moorhen or the delicate splash of a Little Grebe.

Grey Heron haunt the water's edge and wait for shadows in the water to turn into trout.

Week five

Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral fluttered by during yet another warm week.

See Jason's weekly nature photos in the gallery link above

Truly 2009 will be remembered as the Year of the Painted Lady - but how and where will these butterflies spend the winter? Will they survive it?

Butterfly Conservation would love to receive your low-season records for butterflies. Especially since a wave of late migrants hit the south coast a few weeks ago.

I get the impression Harlequin Ladybirds must be on a mass migration, after watching dozens and pass through the garden on a sunny day. Like the flow of Painted Lady this summer, these spotty beetles were intent on travel. Where to, I wonder?

Looking skyward, you might hear a flock of Fieldfare before you see them - it's almost a laughing chuckle.

These colourful thrushes are arriving from central and northern Europe. During the winter stay-over they will forage for soil invertebrates and fruits.

The hedges look good for haws and sloes this year, and I've taken my share of elderberries, sweetened by being left on the tree until now.

Looking earthward, venture a peek under logs to see mini beasts among fungal threads and rotting leaves... like fuzzy springtails or the Pill Woodlouse, taking cover to shed its armour and grow.

Weird pearlescent slug eggs are hidden under plant pots and rocks. And although the Giant Puffball is long gone, smaller cousins nestle in grass and leaf litter.

Week four

Autumn Hawkbit is a flower I always look out for at this time of year. Wildflowers might not be something you associate with autumn, but this pretty thing is now at its best. Like a slender dandelion, Autumn Hawkbit is an important late nectar source for insects.

Autumn Hawkbit is an important late nectar source for insects

I have also seen Devils-bit Scabious - which is definitely autumnal - but also spotted flowering Small Scabious, Dandelion, Common Poppy and even Ox-Eye Daisy, which normally decorates early summer.

After a cold start, the recent very mild weather excited various insects.

I've seen queen bumblebees out this week, an Ichneumon wasp (they look menacing but this solitary hunter was only interested in moths) and the nest of common wasps at my house is still buzzing with traffic.

Alien invaders visited me - the one in my living room was black with red spots.

As mentioned on Autumnwatch the Harlequin Ladybird is new to the British Isles and comes in a range of colour schemes. In the autumn they seek a place to hibernate.

Week three

Another week, another change in hue on trees in town and country. More leaves crunched underfoot on my woodland strolls.

Berkshire has reported a record number of water vole sightings

Walk through any wood right now and you're bound to hear the squawks of Jays as they harvest acorns and nuts, and hoard them for winter. Woodmice are doing the same. And you might see a nut collector that you didn't expect.

Humans are out there after nuts - and white flags! To promote the Great Nut Hunt - a national survey for signs of Dormouse - the People's Trust for Endangered Species hid 21 special flags in woodlands.

Finders of the flags can claim on of 20 silver nuts or possibly even the golden hazelnut!

Gnawed hazel nutshells can tell you if the secretive Dormouse is on your local patch. But it's not easy to sort the signs of Woodmouse from Dormouse.

Here's how - the toothmarks of woodmice point into the hole, leaving a rough edge; and dormice scrape a smooth hole into the side of the shell.

Week two

You may recall the Autumnwatch team asked the nation to listen out for the summer song of Chiffchaff.

Most are migrating, but how late will they leave it? I haven't heard Chiffchaff this week, but I did see about 25 swallows at Bockhampton Down, near Lambourn. Check out Berks Birds for the latest local bird news.

Nuts chewed into by woodmice (left) and dormice (right)

Also here in Berkshire I hunted out toadstools at Wildmoor Heath, joining a guided walk with BBOWT.

Many mysterious fungi are secreted at the wildlife trust's reserve. Some are poisonous, like the infamous Fly Agaric, but some are edible, so we all listened carefully to the guides, and even they checked their books.

As we meandered through the woods, the spiny fruits of Sweet Chestnut surrounded us. At one point we heard dozens of these autumnal treasures rain down onto the leaf litter.

A more-than-I-could-eat buffet lay on the ground, but I did gather a few chestnuts to roast. Ah, what a season! The colours, the sounds, the free food!

Week one

"What an excellent start to the Autumnwatch series! And the chaos of the 'unsprung' session afterwards is great fun.

"Simon King introduced the Red Deer stags on the Isle of Rùm, where the scene is set for a macho battle of antlers.

"Here in Berkshire we might have to wait a while for the climax of the deer rutting in Windsor Great Park, but it's definitely worth a visit this autumn.

"It feels as if autumn started early this year, because dry weather stressed many trees during summer and that stimulated early leaf loss.

"The dryness also delayed the emergence of autumnal mushrooms. I have searched quite fruitlessly for fungi, and so later in the season I must go to a fungus foray led by a real expert, and hope for better results.

This week's photo had to be the unseasonal show of wildflowers that caught me by surprise near Rack Marsh at Bagnor, just outside Newbury.

Berkshire nature events for Autumn 2009

Contact BBC Berkshire if you'd like your event added to this list.

Saturday 21 November 2009

Restorative Coppicing at Braylands Copse
Time: 10.00
Where: Braylands Copse, Enborne.

Details: Help the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers to regenerate this woodland and install dormouse boxes. Please book in advance.

Meet: Enborne Primary School, Skinner's Green Lane. Grid Ref: SU 434 647. Contact: Pang Kennet and Lambourn Valleys Countryside Projects on 0118 930 5335.

Autumnwatch 2009 is on at 20.30 every Friday on BBC2 followed by Autumnwatch Unsprung at 22.00 until Friday 20 November.