The fox breeding season starts in December, but you might start to hear the first calls now: listen out for barks and howls late into the night.

Among the mammals that are preparing to spend the winter in hiding are bank voles.

Another rodent to look out for this month is the harvest mouse – indeed, they will be carrying out their annual nest search at  Chimney Meadows reserve in West Oxfordshire in the coming weeks.

As well as native species, there are also a host of winter visitors to spot this month, including redwings.

 They don’t rot as quickly as most fruit, so are a useful food late in the year when supplies of other berries have been exhausted.

 These fleshy berries are the only part of the yew tree that isn’t toxic, and provide a valuable food source for hundreds of birds, as well as mammals as winter descends. 

Another avian highlight of this season is the phenomenon of roving tit flocks: as food gets scarce, small songbirds such as blue tits, great tits, goldcrests, and treecreepers gather together in mixed flocks

Rooks and jackdaws also start to form large groups  which can offer similar benefits. Rooks in particular can gather in fields in enormous flocks comprised of tens of thousands of birds.

These clouds of birds can contain hundreds of thousands of individuals, and one of the best places to see the spectacle in this area is  Thatcham Reedbeds reserve next door to the Nature Discovery Centre near Newbury, just as the sun starts to set.