Birds:

September is a good time to watch birds returning to estuaries, wetlands, gardens and parks after migrating from the north and growing their winter plumage. Other species have fattened themselves before embarking on the long journey to Africa. Preparations for winter begin but do not finish fully until November. On warm days it may be possible to hear warblers such as willow warblers singing once again before they leave the UK.
Many small birds such as tits, chiffchaffs and others move through the countryside in flocks helping each other to find food.
Jays and hide-away acorns in the ground as stashes to get them through the winter ahead. However, not all of them are found again and some may germinate to grow on into new oak trees.

Mammals:

Our larger animals feast on the autumn harvest and create stores of food, such as nuts, to tide them over during hibernation until the following spring.
Shrews, however, feed on insects and their numbers are at a peak during September. Each shrew needs to eat 90% of its body weight per day in food so they are very territorial over their hunting ground ans when these solitary animals run into each other they make high-pitched squeaking noises.
Squirrels, like jays, also stash acorns in the ground.

Amphibians And Reptiles:

Frogs and toads are eating greedily to put on body weight to last them over the winter.

Invertebrates:

On sunny days, look also for the dragonflies in wetland areas and bees and wasps feeding on late-flowering ivy.
September is a good time to see plant galls. Look out for red ‘bean galls’ on the willow leaves, which are home to sawfly larva which develop into adults in the soil once the leaves have fallen from the tree, and “Robin’s pin cushion” (s) on roses looking like a tangled ball of red fishing line! See how many different types you can find on the leaves and buds of oak trees.
Many butterflies are still on the wing from the second or third hatchings. However they may well be ragged and this will be their last month as adults. The browns and skippers feed on grasses. The male gatekeeper (a member of the brown family) sets up territories along hedges where the nectar bearing plants of marjoram, mint, wood sage and bramble attract the adults. The attractive wall butterfly can be found basking in the sun on rocks and stones.
Also look out for National Moth Night. See if the Lancashire moth group, the Wildlife Trust or the Council’s ranger service is running a moth night in your local nature reserve or country park.

Fungi:

Fungi such as stinkhorns, puffballs and field mushrooms appear above ground in abundance in woodlands, pastures and grasslands. The rancid smell of stinkhorn (hence its name) attracts flies, which feed on the sticky phallic-shape and carry off the fungus’s spores to a new location.
The Fly Agaric is one of Britain’s best known and most attractive fungi. It is a classic fairytale toadstool and was made famous by Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland. The fungus forms a symbiotic association with birch roots so take a look when you see birch trees.
See if the Lancashire fungi group, the Trust or the Council’s ranger service is running any fungal forays in your local nature reserves or country parks.

Trees And Shrubs:

Seeds fall from many of the trees, including conkers from horse chestnuts (did you know that they were introduced to the UK from Albania in 1616?), as well as acorns from oaks and the ripe brown winged seeds from ash, sycamore and field maple.
Hedgerows are full of the ripe black-coloured berries of blackthorn (sloes), elderberries and blackberries and red-coloured hips and haws.
The leaves of many deciduous trees change colour and start to fall to the ground.

Plants:

Most of the summer flowers are now over or are fading, but some come into their own at this time such as the yellow flowers of common toadflax in dry grasslands and common fleabane in wetter areas.
Also look out for yarrow in meadows and roaside verges in September. It has very deep roots, which allows it to survive summer droughts. It can produce flowers long after other flowers have faded and is a prolific seed producer with large plants producing over 3000 seeds!
Along many riverbanks you can smell the flowers of the Himalayan or Indian balsam, which disperses its seed from exploding pods.
A number of other waterside plants are also still in flower. Purple loosestrife has a striking spike of deep pink flowers. The white flowers of greater bindweed and wild angelica attract bees and hoverflies. The yellow flowers of greater bird’s-foot trefoil and yellow loosestrife can also be found growing in dense stands of vegetation in damp or marshy areas.
Also look out for autumn gentian and the dandelion-like autumn hawkbit.