Well, it looks like last week was the last week of summer weather wise and autumn has now arrived in Derbyshire along with the first beavers in Derbyshire for 800 years at our Willington Wetlands reserve!

We’ll kick off what you’ve seen this week with a Devil’s Coach Horse Beetle, a fast, nocturnal predator which uses its pincher style jaws to crush its invertebrate prey and curl up and emit a foul-smelling substance from their abdomens when threatened. A sightings blog favourite was recorded again last week, the Buzzard, who’s males attract a female by repeating flying up high and sweeping down like they’re on a rollercoaster.

With the leaves starting to turn, one way you can make the most of them is by visiting some of our reserves which really show off the autumn colours over the next few months, a link to a list of these is below.

Click here to see our nature reserves.

We are looking forward to reading about your wildlife sightings across Derbyshire. To submit your own sighting and be featured in a future blog go to www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/wildlife/record-sighting.

Thank you to Jax, Nigel Martin and Emma Harpham for submitting their wildlife sightings.