Sunday 4 October is World Animal Day, a day dedicated to animals and their welfare around the world.
Here at Enniskillen Weather, we thought it was also a good opportunity to look a little closer to home.
Autumn brings some of the biggest changes of the year to the natural world around us. The days are getting shorter, temperatures are beginning to fall and winter isn’t too far away.
And while we might respond by putting the heating on and reaching for a warmer coat, our wildlife has its own ways of dealing with the changing seasons.
So what are some of our animals doing at this time of year?
Hedgehogs are preparing for winter
Autumn is an important time for hedgehogs.
As temperatures begin to fall, hedgehogs need to build up their energy reserves before hibernation. They’ll spend their nights searching for food such as insects, worms and beetles.
They’ll also begin looking for suitable places to shelter.
Piles of leaves, logs, compost heaps and other quiet areas can provide valuable places for hedgehogs to nest and eventually hibernate.
So if you’re planning a big autumn garden tidy, leaving a small wild corner can actually give wildlife somewhere to hide.
And always check piles of leaves and logs before disturbing or burning them.
Squirrels are busy gathering food
If you take an autumn walk through woodland around Fermanagh, keep an eye out for squirrels.
Autumn provides plenty of nuts and seeds, and squirrels make the most of this seasonal supply.
They collect and hide food in different locations — known as caching — which gives them supplies to return to when food becomes harder to find.
Interestingly, squirrels don’t hibernate through the winter.
They remain active, although they may spend more time sheltering during particularly poor weather.
Our birds are changing too
The birds around us change with the seasons.
Some of the summer visitors that arrived earlier in the year begin leaving as autumn arrives, travelling south towards warmer areas where food is easier to find.
At the same time, other birds arrive to spend autumn and winter here.
Some species that we see throughout the year can also become more noticeable as birds gather together or begin visiting gardens more regularly.
So the birdlife you see around Enniskillen in October can be quite different from what you saw during the summer.
Insects begin disappearing from view
Think back to a warm summer day and there were probably insects everywhere — bees around flowers, butterflies passing through gardens and plenty of flies and other small creatures.
By autumn, things begin getting quieter.
Many insects cannot remain active through colder weather, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve simply disappeared.
Different species survive winter in different ways.
Some spend the colder months as eggs, larvae or pupae, while others find sheltered places and enter a dormant state until conditions improve.
That’s another reason why leaving some fallen leaves, hollow plant stems and less tidy corners in the garden can be useful for wildlife.
They can provide shelter for tiny creatures throughout the colder months.
Berries, nuts and seeds become important
The changing autumn landscape isn’t just nice for us to look at.
Those berries, nuts and seeds appearing in hedgerows and woodland can provide an important source of food.
Birds and mammals can make use of the autumn bounty at a time when many of the insects and other foods available during summer are becoming less plentiful.
Even fallen fruit can provide food for insects, birds and mammals.
Nature has a way of making use of what might otherwise look like a messy autumn garden.
Longer nights change the rhythm of wildlife
One of the biggest changes happening during autumn is daylight.
Our nights are becoming longer and the days shorter, and that affects the behaviour of wildlife too.
Nocturnal animals have longer periods of darkness in which to move around, while other species adjust their daily routines as sunrise and sunset continue to change.
Weather matters too.
Falling temperatures, wet weather, wind and eventually frost all influence when animals are active, where they find food and where they choose to shelter.
It’s a reminder that weather and wildlife are much more closely connected than we sometimes realise.
How can we give wildlife a helping hand this autumn?
Helping wildlife doesn’t necessarily mean completely changing your garden.
Sometimes doing less can actually help.
Leaving a pile of leaves in a quiet corner can provide shelter for insects and potentially hedgehogs. Leaving some seed heads standing can provide both food and shelter, while logs and dead wood create habitats for all sorts of small creatures.
A source of fresh water can also be useful for visiting wildlife.
And before strimming long grass, moving a log pile or clearing an overgrown corner, it’s always worth checking whether something has made its home there first.
Take a closer look this autumn
World Animal Day is about recognising the importance and welfare of animals around the world.
But you don’t necessarily have to travel very far to appreciate wildlife.
It could be the squirrel gathering food in the park, birds arriving in the garden, a hedgehog wandering through at night or even the tiny insects sheltering beneath the fallen leaves.
Autumn is a season of huge change in the natural world.
So next time you’re out for a walk around Enniskillen or elsewhere in County Fermanagh, slow down for a moment and take a closer look.
There may be much more happening around you than you realise.
