October in the 365 Nature Journal
The autumnal activities of September stretch into October. Keep looking for the conkers on the 20th and we are all familiar with the helicopter seeds, but do you know of other seeds that can fly? (10th)
The textures get clearer in October as leaves fall leaving the bark more visible, take some bark rubbings while you are out and about (2nd) or bring leaves inside for leaf rubbings (7th)or for printing with (23rd). Keep up the sensory observations (4th, 9th and 11th). In October the sea or lakes can be quite warm from the summer sunshine, try to enjoy a brave, wild swim to get your skin tingling.
As well as the conkers, see if you can find a casing to the beechnut on the 1st. I love the two tiny triangles you can find inside where the seeds were.
Nature studies
The Sticky buds of the Horse Chestnut tree can be a wonder filled, nature, time capsule discovery for you if you peel back the layers from the sticky buds (12th). Read the story of wonder journal-stickybuds and follow along with your own.
Also really worth doing is watching the phases of the moon. The 8th,15th,22nd and 29th all prompt to sketch down the shape of the moon if you can see it. Throughout the month you will see the shape change. Jot down your sketches on this circular chart to compare them and see how it is an eternal cycle that takes place. NSTA have a video here of an experiment that you can do to understand why we see the shapes of the moon phases when we do.
Helping nature in October
Its always the time of year to help out your garden wildlife, is there room for you too gather the leaves in for hedgehogs? (19th) Wildlife Watch explain how to make HIDEY-HOLES for hedgehogs and other animals. Have a look around to make sure bushes and trees have berries for birds to feed on (14th) and maybe you want to try the taste of a common poppy seed too (16th) you can see why the animals love them so much.
Other seasonal offerings are cob nuts (27th) with their lovely creamy nut taste, often I just buy them from markets as we rarely find them outside (squirrels get there first!) Also there is of course the pumpkin which you might be carving on 26th, be sure to make soup or cake from it on 28th.
On the 17th have a look at the mushroom fungi detective sheet from Wildlife Watch and see if you can spot any near you. There are so many different types of mushroom.
How is your Conker collection (20th) getting on?
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