The Manx Wildlife Trust is the island’s leading nature conservation charity with 24 reserves. We aim to inform and educate individuals, families, companies, landowners, politicians and government departments about the importance of our wildlife and natural habitats, and the urgent need to cherish and protect them.

October is when our wildlife is beginning to get ready for the winter.

The berries are out and conkers are falling from the trees.

This month we are looking at the horse chestnut trees, which are strongly associated with autumn and school days.

Last week there was a report out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature that horse chestnuts are on the red list, meaning it is an at-risk species that urgently needs conservation action.

The horse chestnut is not indigenous to the island but was introduced to the UK in the 16th century and is originally from the Balkan states.

However the fantastic spikes of flowers are a wonderful nectar source for insects.

The horse chestnut is threatened by a fungal infection known as bleeding canker, and also from the horse chestnut leaf miner moth whose caterpillars live inside the leaves of the tree and can occur in large numbers.

At present there are no reports on the NBN atlas of the Isle of Man for this moth species on the island, but it has been spotted in Belfast and Anglesey, which are quite close to us.

Because it is an introduced tree it means that there are just four species of associated insects with horse chestnuts, compared to 284 found on an oak tree.

However with these statistics it is important to remember that the number of different species does not refer to biomass.

You can get large numbers of a few species, and this is important for the predators that eat them, such as the leaf miner moths providing a food source for blue tits.

So this month we are asking you to tell us about where you find horse chestnut trees.

Everyone had their favourite tree where they would collect conkers from as a child.

On island they tend to be associated with pleasure gardens and the glens.

To start you on your search, you could try looking around the famous conker fields, situated on the TT course near to Churchtown outside of Ramsey.

There are some beautiful spreading chestnut trees at Milntown and also a lovely example at Silverdale.

As they were considered ornamental trees they tended to be planted in ones and twos, so you won’t see a whole stand of them.

So on the lovely warm autumnal days, grab your coat and go on a walk and explore.

Don’t forget to tell us about what other wildlife you spot on your wander!

The key information we need is essentially what, where and when.

The ’where’, ie the location, can be an address, or map reference or GPS reference from your mobile phone.

There are many great apps you can download for this.

The ’when’ is the date and time when you saw the chestnuts, and also your name, a contact number or an email for you is helpful in case of any queries we may have.

The ’what’ is the species you have seen. It doesn’t have to be the binominal (latin) name and if you have a photograph that’s even better, especially if you can take pictures of different aspects of your find.

To send us your information, you can use our facebook page and message us, telephone us on 844432 and tell us the details, or email via [email protected]

by Dawn Dickens

Biodiversity education officer

www.manxwt.org.uk