OUTSIDE IN OCTOBER Iain Ferguson It may be cold and wet (well, it usually is at the time of year) but if you get the chance get outside nature is truly bursting with life this month. Very recently, when the house was silent as I went to bed, I was very concerned by a howling animal somewhere nearby. Thinking it may be in distress I had a good look around in the direction of the sound, shone a torch, but could see nothing. It was very still and eventually it dawned on me that it was probably a stag bellowing out as rutting season is here. As highlighted in previous editions, give rutting stags a wide berth as they are no longer the human avoiding moor dwellers you may be used to and could see you as a
threat to their territory. Now that ground cover is dying back there will be many, often colourful toadstools and mushrooms which will spring into life to fill the space. Many are pretty, some may be poisonous, so look but don’t touch and unless your are an accomplished expert, certainly don’t eat! Another animal I recently encountered in the vicinity of my house was an owl, again I couldn’t see it in the half light, but its haunting sound echoed through the dank, hanging mist. Many of the native trees commonly found around Lochaber will now be heavy with berries or seeds of some form encapsulated in unique dispersion packages, such as sycamore ‘wings’, the hard and
spiky cases of horse chestnuts or pods on gorse bushes. There are many more, so why not make a list and go for a walk to see how many you can find?. Looking forward to next year, now is the time to plant spring bulbs which are easy to find in the shops. Daffodils, crocus, hyacinth, snowdrops, all brighten up the gardens or pots in the early months on the new year. One of my own favourites for many years has been the paper white narcissi, of which indoor varieties can flower for Christmas (there’s that word again), but in recent years these have been all but impossible to find! Regardless of weather, join and enjoy nature at this time if year if and when you can. I will.
LOCHABER LIFE
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