Another sign of the great autumn is the huge numbers of invertebrate life we are still seeing. Spiders and their webs are everywhere, as are butterflies still (lots of red admirals). Every time we turn over anything like a stone or a grass mat or some compost/ soil, we also find masses of worms. Of course flies are plentiful too which isn't so great and we have heard of several instances of fly strike in sheep (ugh!!). It's all good because it means birds will be finding enough to eat and so hopefully heading into the winter in good condition. Early this spring we found one of our male yellowhammers dead in a field shelter and we always wondered if he had just not got enough to eat. Yellowhammers are predominantly seed and fruit eaters but they do also take spiders – hence possibly being attracted to our field shelters - as well probably, for the straw for their nest building too!