November in Bicknor Wood.

November remained mild through until the last week of the month. The leaves fell gently coating the wood's floor and its paths. Then a big blow and plunging temperatures put the squeeze on to blast any loose leaves from their stays.

A striking phenomenon was the differing rates at which trees lost their leaves. While some of the oaks were already almost leafless, others were still thickly foliated. 

The oaks in the centre coppice were still green (-ish) on November 25th. 

Oak trees don't always form a complete abscission layer as a result the leaves don't always drop. They sometimes need a good storm to dislodge them or the leaves may cling on through the winter and finally succumb to pressure from the newly budding leaves in spring.

Silver Birch and Sallow also staggered their leaf-shedding timetables. The Sweet Chestnuts were pretty much naked before storm Arwen.

Cleaning visits were carried out on the bird nesting boxes. 17 of them had seen action in the form of bird nesting attempts. 2 others were full of slugs and one held a delicate wasps' nest.

Bats are protected by the Countryside act and although there appears to be very little chance of bats roosting or hibernating in the boxes placed by Bellway, it is still an offence to disturb them.

The birds have not shown to any great extent. Limited opportunities to visit left me with just 15 species seen in the wood this month. All the old favourites.