Sleepy time and 'deadheads'

October is often an in-between sort of month; not quite winter with the odd nice day reminding us of late summer.
However, it can be a time of magical autumnal light and crisp frosts that crunch satisfyingly underfoot.
For lots of wildlife, it's a time of relative ease, as there is an abundant food supply of berries for the birds, worms for the moles, and ivy that supplies a last drink of nectar for moths, butterflies and other insects.
At the end of the month the clocks go back, and once you emerge from that extra hour of sleep, and if you insist on 'tidying up' your garden, you may well disturb some rather dozy frogs, toads and newts.
If you do, carefully pick them up or 'shoo' them along into an undisturbed area of longer grass, shrubs or even in the damp spaces between flower pots and tubs.
Try not to deadhead (cut the heads off) your flowers, as the seed heads are a winter home for a range of insects, including the gardener's friend, the ladybird.
Finally, dead leaves provide food and shelter for hedgehogs, voles and shrews, and invertebrates such as woodlice, worms and beetles, so again, don't be too tidy.
Pile the fallen leaves up behind a stack of old wood or dead stems – if it's neat like a hedge, you can even call it a 'fedge' (see photo)!