Thursday 22 September



Autumn colours in Glen Tilt


The equinox has been, nights are now longer than days, and autumn has definitely arrived in Blair Atholl. Although many people might suggest that we haven't had a summer anyway, the trees have now started to turn, leaves are falling, and the nights are definitely getting chilly. Give it a couple more weeks and the autumn colours should be looking really spectacular.

The squirrels definitely think it's autumn too, collecting and stashing food for the winter. Although they don't hibernate, they spend a lot more time in their dreys in the winter and don't go out at all on bad weather days. They stash food now so that in the middle of winter it's easy and quick to gather it and then they can quickly get back to the warmth of the drey.


Off to get the next nut

Stashing nuts amongst the vegetation

Sitting in the wildlife hide this morning, I watched a busy squirrel at work. It collected a nut, bit the top off - perhaps to give it a scent for finding it later, and then buried it amongst the vegetation. This went on for about 20 minutes before the squirrel decided maybe it could have a reward and ate one of the nuts. Meanwhile the coal tits were busy taking sunflower seeds that had been spilled by the squirrel.