Here in the Countryman offices we all get a little nervous around the time the magazine is due to be published. There’s always some worry about what might have have gone wrong; have we made any errors in the rush to meet deadlines; will the printers have done a good job; and this month in particular, will the subscribers receive their copies because of postal strikes. I will always console myself with the thought that it can never get as bad as it did in 1987. The staff had worked extremely hard to produce a special 60th anniversary edition of Countryman for spring of that year and no doubt breathed a sigh of relief when it headed off to the printers. Then came news that there had been a fire at the bindery and the copies had been destroyed. The regular printer could not reprint because of other work so an alternative was found. The ill-fated copies headed off to another binder – and incredibly there was another fire. Letters were sent out to every subscriber telling them of the catastrophe and apologising for the delay. In true Countryman reader fashion many wrote back enclosing cheques ‘to help pay for the damage’ but all money was returned as we were covered by insurance and after several weeks the edition finally hit the streets. I can tell you everything went well with November’s issue and I hope today’s subscribers receive their copies soon.

Photo shows the wood outside our office last week.

Even though it reminds us that winter is just around the corner, don’t you just love it when autumn sunshine highlights the changing colours in the countryside? I don’t live in a part of the UK blessed with vast areas of natural forests but there are pockets of woodland all around and the colours stand out wonderfully against our grey limestone crags and walls. Why not post some of your favourite autumn shots on our gallery… www.thecountryman.co.uk

Photo taken near Kettlewell in Wharfedale, Yorkshire

The famous plateau of Kinder Scout in the Peak District has this weekend officially been declared a National Nature Reserve (NNR) by Natural England. Owned and managed by the National Trust, Kinder comprises around 700 hectares of various upland habitats, including blanket bog and sub-alpine dwarf shrub heath, and also supports several upland breeding birds, notably species of birds of prey and waders, curlew and ring ouzel. It is hoped to restore damaged habitat areas, including the regeneration of bog mosses, which are fundamental to the long-term process of peat creation and carbon storage.
Kinder is among the most popular upland areas in England for walkers and holds a special affection as the site of the famous 1932 Mass Trespass - the catalyst for the creation of our National Parks. It now becomes the 223rd NNR in England and the 16th owned by the National Trust.
The NNR declaration came on the same day that the life of Sir Martin Doughty - the father of modern nature conservation and founding chairman of Natural England - was celebrated with a series of events on and around Kinder Scout.  Martin died of cancer earlier this year and would have celebrated his 60th birthday on 11 October. An informal family day out was arranged by Natural England, the National Trust, Derbyshire County Council and the Peak District National Park Authority.

Despite what you might read elsewhere, all is not doom and gloom in our countryside, especially where wildlife is concerned. This week Worcestershire Wildlife Trust tell me that a nationally rare butterfly has now been found on six of their reserves. Eggs of the brown hairstreak, a small and elusive butterfly, have recently been discovered on blackthorn at Feckenham Wylde Moor reserve, four a half miles from Redditch.
Up in the north west Natural England report that one of our rarest wild flowers, the ladies slipper orchid, has received a boost with the planting of some new shoots. The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) say that at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, there has been an autumn sighting of a winter marsh warbler for the first time for some forty years.
And on the coast, pioneering new research which could ensure the long term survival of red squirrels has begun at one of the animal’s traditional strongholds at Formby, a site managed by the National Trust. A recent outbreak of squirrelpox virus means that researchers are able to study the dynamics of the disease as it continues to affect the red squirrels there and elsewhere along the Sefton coast. Numbers of red squirrels had fallen by 90 per cent in some parts of the area since a major outbreak of the virus began in November 2007.  But anecdotal evidence suggests that numbers of red squirrels have stabilised. Further monitoring work will be carried out in the pine woodland during the autumn to establish current red squirrel densities and the status of the survivors.