Things to look out for in the garden - September

As autumn begins, the days start to cool and the nights draw in - all wild animals begin to prepare for the winter ahead. Swallows, tiny active birds with dark glossy blue backs, pale under-parts and long distinctive tail streamers, leave us now. They fly back to southern Africa to over-winter and we won't see them again until early spring. One of our most iconic birds, swallows used to nest under almost every roof, they are agile in flight and spend most of their time on the wing, catching prey. Swallows are found in areas where there is a ready and accessible supply of small insects and are particularly fond of open pasture with access to water and quiet farm buildings.

This is the time to begin thinking about winter plantings, in other words, trees. If you want to encourage wildlife into your garden, here as some suggestions:

• The crab apple - is a deciduous, small shrubby tree -one of the ancestors of the domesticated eating apple. The tree bears round, fleshy apple-like fruits that are very sour when raw. The flowers are cup-shaped, white with a pink flush and are much sought out by bees - they are utterly beautiful and add a touch of glamour to every garden. Wildlife that is known to eat or nest in the crab apple includes: badger, bank vole, bees and wasps, blackbird, bullfinch, eyed hawk-moth, fieldfare, fox, grey squirrel, mistle thrush, song thrush and wood mouse.
• The rowan tree - is a small tree with symmetrical oval leaves and clusters of orange-red berries in autumn. The foliage is highly attractive to browsing animals, and red deer will eat it in preference to most other tree species, in Scotland the rare mountain hares browse on the leaves too. The berries are eaten by a variety of birds including chaffinches, siskins and blackbirds, who also disperse the seeds. Fieldfares and redwings actually time their migrations from Scandinavia to the UK to coincide with the availability of rowan berries.

Garden September crab apple photograph by visulogik, used under a creative commons attribution licence.

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