Erin McDaid of the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust discusses links between Halloween and nature

Erin McDaid of the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust discusses the links between Halloween and nature in his weekly column.

With Halloween now seemingly celebrated over a couple of weeks either side of October 31st, most of us will be exposed to all manner of paraphernalia associated with this traditional and increasingly popular slot in the calendar.

Together with the usual macabre imagery of skeletons, ghosts, ghouls, and witches, many things closely associated with Halloween are linked to nature and the natural world.

Two of the creatures most closely associated with Halloween are bats and spiders. No display of spooky decorations would be complete without a selection of plastic spiders or faux webs, and bat motifs remain popular due to their association with vampires.

Spiders are most probably linked with Halloween because some species are seen more often at this time of year as they seek refuge inside our homes from the increasingly cold, wet weather.

Although spiders are often seen indoors at this time of year and do occasionally find their way into baths and sinks, they are unlikely to have climbed up through water pipes as the traditional rhyme about ‘incey, wincey spider’ suggests.

They are much more likely to have dropped down from the ceiling or climbed down a wall only to find themselves unable to escape due to the steep sides and shiny surfaces.

On a personal level, I’m a little bamboozled as to quite why some folks get quite so scared by spiders, but many people have real phobias and I’m sure this has a lot to do with spiders’ ability to scamper quickly across the floor and ability to spin webs as if by magic.

Bats have long been associated with vampires. Tales of blood sucking bats loom large across the world despite the fact that blood sucking species only occur in South America.

Like many other animals that have the misfortune to be misunderstood, their nocturnal habits probably trigger an unfounded level of mistrust – with people once believing that bats were the souls of sleeping people moving through the night.

Others thought that they were flying rodents and rodents, particularly rats, rarely top lists of people's favourite creatures. The habit of some bats species hibernating caves likely added to people’s fears due to old beliefs that cave systems provided a route into the underworld.

As knowledge of the vital role both spiders and bats play in controlling numbers of insects such as flies, midges and mosquitoes, I’d hope that less and less people would take fright, but I think their association with Halloween is here to stay.

The pumpkin’s association with Halloween is much more recent. It is believed that Irish settlers brought traditions linked to the ancient festival of Samhain and All Hallows Eve to America – with pumpkins providing a perfect stateside substitute for the turnips that had traditionally been carved to help ward off spirits.

Sadly, the current trend of people leaving out old pumpkin lanterns for wildlife to feed on can be bad news for hedgehogs at a critical time of year.

While pumpkins left on the ground in gardens, parks and other green spaces for animals to eat are not particularly harmful to birds, they can be a real danger to hedgehogs because pumpkin can cause them to have diarrhoea and dehydration just when they need to be gaining weight ahead of hibernation.

Old pumpkins can also attract rats, smother wildflowers, and add nutrients to the soil which can encourage invasive plants.

We’d suggest composting old pumpkins or burying them 12 to 18 inches deep to divert organic waste from landfill.

Even better, why not make delicious pumpkin soup or muffins to serve as part of your Halloween celebrations? After roasting the pumpkin, you can also use the dried seeds as a snack or add them to bird feeders.