The recent stormy and wet weather curtailed end of year foraying which was a pity as it was mild and autumn fruiting species can hang around until it gets frosty. Winter fungi are starting to appear and will not be unduly affected by cold weather and revive on warmer days.

December is usually one of the wetter months of the year, as was the case this time with 15 rain-days. Storm ‘Barra’ on 7^th-8^th produced high winds and heavy showers but was nothing like as damaging as named storm ‘Arwen’ in November.

Pollination is often the incidental consequence of an animal’s activity on a flower. The pollinator is often eating or collecting pollen for its protein and other nutritional characteristics or it is sipping nectar from the flower when pollen grains attach themselves to the its body. When the animal visits another flower for the same reason, pollen can fall off onto the flower’s stigma and may result in successful reproduction of the flower.

November is generally a quiet time for wildlife. However, Ian Wolfenden reported a huge movement of winter thrushes at Hightown on 4th. He estimated an extraordinary number of 5000 Fieldfares and 2000 Redwings flying north. Strong winds from the southwest on 6-7th brought in an unusual bounty from the tropics, John Dempsey finding a colourful Portuguese-Man-of-War and several By-the-wind-sailors on Ainsdale beach.