The third in a series of blogs by Buglife Development Officer Beth Barber, celebrating the seasons in our gardens.
See previous posts in this series:
- Midsummer wildlife gardening when it’s bloomin’ hot/cold/rainy* (*delete as appropriate!)
- Spring is sprung
Image credit: Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) on Michaelmas Daisy, October, Hertsmere District, England, © timku, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Michaelmas (29 September) traditionally marks the end of harvest and the onset of autumn. However, the impact of yet another record-breaking summer, with 2026 looking likely to be confirmed as the warmest and one of the sunniest UK summers on record, seems to have blurred many of these traditional seasonal boundaries. The lack of normal seasonal markers may confuse gardeners, but it can be devastating for invertebrate species and other wildlife.
Heat-stressed trees have been dropping leaves in parks and gardens since early August. Leaves that fall so early are very dry and brittle which makes them satisfying to kick through but they are prone to blow away and will disintegrate long before winter arrives, depriving a range of ground-dwelling species of shelter.
Although it is tempting to clear away parched brown foliage to refresh your garden at the end of a long hot summer, this shortage of suitable over-wintering habitat makes it even more important to leave old foliage and stems in situ. If piles of dry leaves are already blowing around your garden, consider creating a temporary leaf pile using bamboo canes and chicken wire. This will not only provide you with an excellent soil conditioner as they decompose but also shelter for spiders and ground dwelling beetles. If you leave a cut out space at the bottom of the container you might also be lucky enough to attract a hedgehog!
“Autumn Colours” seen at the end of summer in the UK © 35mmMan, CC BY 2.0
Fallen leaves (in piles here at Crowland Garden) provides much needed shelter for invertebrates © Buglife
Earthworms convert dead leaves into nutrient-rich humus© schizoform, CC BY 2.0
Desiccated drought-stressed foliage is also lower in nutrients which will in turn impact the nutrient cycling activities of detritivores, particularly earthworms who enrich the soil by converting dead leaves into nutrient-rich humus. Leaf mould is often known as ‘black gold’ amongst gardeners and adding it to your garden soil will supplement valuable worm activity when this is suppressed by prolonged periods of hot dry weather and higher surface temperatures which also discourage earthworms from approaching the surface to drag leaves down into their burrows.
More positively, successive summer heatwaves have minimised snail damage to my vegetable crops (although this week’s first proper rain for several months seems to have reawakened their appetites with a vengeance!) but other “pests” have thrived. The rapidly expanding woolly aphid populations on my fruit trees and my neighbour’s Pyracantha have kept ladybird, lacewing and hoverfly larvae well fed throughout the season. The infestation doesn’t appear to have impacted the Pyracantha’s fruiting capabilities, as it is heavily laden with bright red berries which will provide a nutritious source of food for birds and small mammals as autumn progresses.
Despite the recent rains, much of England and all of Wales remains in drought. It will take considerable time to replenish groundwater and reservoirs meaning that we are all facing several more months of water scarcity. It is important to continue to provide water for invertebrates through a dry autumn. This doesn’t necessarily mean a full-scale pond, even a shallow dish buried at soil level will fulfil their needs. Include some stones for access and keep it topped up regularly.
Hopefully the rains will prompt a second flush of growth and refresh late flowering blooms such as Michaelmas Daisy, which typically provide a continuing source of nectar for pollinators into late October. This second flush of blooms in September/October is characteristic of Mediterranean species which tend to flower in spring and again in autumn, to avoid brutal summer temperatures when fewer pollinators are on the wing. Gardeners can induce a similar flowering cycle in some species such as geraniums (meaning true geraniums rather than pelargonium species which are often grown in pots) by cutting them back hard after first flowering, persuading new foliage and more flowers to develop.
This summer has also seen reports of some Mediterranean invertebrates making an appearance on our shores. Those of us who garden in the south of the country are well used to new species appearing from mainland Europe, but I was surprised when a Buglife colleague asked me if I could check out some reports of cicadas in central and southwest London. The cicada safari was successful and hopefully the audio I recorded will be clear enough above the thrum of traffic for experts to confirm their presence in London Plane trees along the Strand. I’m looking forward to a new soundtrack for London summers although we will have to wait to see whether they will establish a permanent home in our street trees.
Listen: Cicadas caught singing in London, captured by Beth Barber
If you would like to learn more about the appearance of ‘Exotic’ invertebrates in the UK and the possible reasons and consequences of this, please do read our blog from Advocacy and Social Change Manager, David Smith: ‘Exotic’ invertebrates in the wild: Welcome visitors or warning signs?