🌫️ November — The Month of Mist
A month that heralds winter, yet still shows the exuberance of autumn.
When the sun breaks through, the skies can be at their most beautiful — clear, radiant, and luminous. We may take that soft Dutch light for granted, but painters, travelers, and anyone with an eye for beauty notice its extraordinary glow.
Poplars, maples, and birches have already lost their leaves, but oaks still display a rich palette of colors. Mushrooms remain plentiful, and we’re often surprised by a late second bloom — of hawkweed, gorse, or the ever-brave daisy. Our hardy resident birds quarrel over their territories, while most winter guests have already arrived. When the skies fill with geese, you know the cold is near.
We can expect about five frost days, though the average temperature now hovers above 7 °C. Ten degrees by day is normal — yet twenty is no longer rare. Rain is back too: 80 mm this month is quite usual. With chill and humidity comes fog, hence the nickname “the month of mist.” It sounds far gentler than the older, grimmer names — the month of slaughter or blood month. Perhaps, in modern times, we might rename it pumpkin month or chestnut month.
🌿 The Quiet Beauty of Ivy
The humble ivy is an overlooked marvel this time of year. “I never see ivy in bloom,” people often say — and for good reason: ivy must be several years old before it produces its elegant clusters of yellow-green flowers, often high above eye level. And high they can go — up to fifteen meters!
Let’s also dispel a myth: ivy does not harm trees or walls. Its tiny rootlets cling for support but don’t penetrate bark or brickwork, nor do they draw nutrients from their host. Tall trees such as oaks and birches even shelter ivy, which in turn replaces mosses and lichens on their trunks.
The flowers offer nectar and pollen to late-flying bees, wasps, hoverflies, and butterflies like the Holly Blue. In early spring, the black berries provide welcome food for starlings, blackbirds, and wood pigeons — though they are poisonous to humans. Ivy also offers precious shelter for nesting birds and overwintering butterflies such as the Brimstone and Comma.
🍂 The Fungal Cleanup Crew
Those fallen leaves that clog every garden path? In nature, they meet their match. Countless “saprotrophic” fungi get to work decomposing them — from delicate ink caps suddenly appearing overnight to the stately boletes that form symbiotic bonds with trees.
🐦 Life Among the Birds
Is November a time of rest in the bird world? Not quite.
Many resident species still sing surprisingly energetically — robins, wrens, blue tits, and great tits defend their patches, just as jays, great spotted woodpeckers, and green woodpeckers do. Meanwhile, the winter guests busy themselves foraging: redwings, siskins, goldfinches, and, this year, large flocks of chaffinches. That abundance may well be thanks to the rich crop of acorns and beech nuts.
🦋 The Little Winter Moth
A small yet fascinating insect of the season: the Winter Moth.
It survives on the energy it stored as a caterpillar. The males take flight only after the first frosts; the eggs hatch in early spring, just in time to feed our nesting birds such as chiffchaffs and other migrants. Climate change has disrupted this timing — caterpillars now often hatch before the new oak leaves appear. Yet evolution is quick to adapt: the latest-hatching larvae are becoming the winners of this new rhythm.
🌰 Chestnuts, Acorns, and Autumn’s Harvest
For mammals, it’s still harvest season — berries and nuts abound.
The smooth horse chestnut, though inedible to humans, makes perfect playthings for children and tasty treats for wild boar. You can spot the tree easily by its large, hand-shaped leaves of five to seven lobes.
The sweet chestnut, on the other hand, bears narrow lance-shaped leaves and nuts hidden in spiny husks, each with a tuft of hair on top. Delicious when roasted or pureed into chestnut cream — but don’t be greedy, for squirrels, jays, crows, mice, boar, and countless insects love them too.
🍁 November Field Notes & Ideas
1️⃣ Is November truly the “month of mist”? Keep a mini log: record the highest and lowest temperatures this month.
2️⃣ Search for blooming ivy — a quiet wonder few ever notice.
3️⃣ Gather horse chestnuts (the smooth ones) and craft funny little figures from them.
4️⃣ Roast sweet chestnuts (the spiky ones with a tuft) — but check they’re not moldy first!
5️⃣ Observe which winter visitors are in your area this year. Are there really as many chaffinches as reports suggest?
Written for those who still notice the subtle colors of November, the scent of wet leaves, and the quiet rhythm of life preparing for winter.
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