91Èȱ¬

Although it was stunningly beautiful, we missed the best of the autumn colour and some lovely weather, by just a few days. We arrived to the scene with swathes of leaves littered across the forest floor and a sky full of dramatic grey and black clouds, ominously holding more than their fair share of water. They were primed to drop as much of it as they possibly could on our team.

Within the Borrowdale Valley lies the small hamlet of Seathwaite. With 3,500mm of rain every year, it's one of the wettest places in England. The average in Manchester is just over 800mm in London it's 600mm in London, which gives you some idea of how wet it is. Maurice, the National Trust warden, says they get 100 dry days every year, which sounds great. But it isn't. It means they have 265 wet days a year.

Although this is far from the dream climate for many Autumnwatchers, it's perfect for the hundreds of species of mosses, lichens and bryophytes, many of which need this climate for their survival.

Borrowdale and Cumbria also represent the front line against the introduced grey squirrel population which has dramatically affected the numbers of the native red squirrels (Scuirus vulgaris). The first grey squirrels were seen in the valley in 2001 and spread fast, causing a huge decline in the red squirrels population. Organisations here realise they cannot get rid of the greys completely, but they can work to manage the grey squirrel numbers effectively.

(Red squirrel conservation is a tricky subject. Find out more about it and have your say about what should be done.)

If you want to see red squirrels in the UK, try one of these places:

While in the Borrowdale valley, the home of Beatrix Potters , we also concentrated on another main character from this classic book, Old Brown, the Tawny Owl (Strix aluco). At this time of year tawny owls are becoming incredibly territorial, and subsequently are very vocal. The team spent a few nights in the dark woods of Borrowdale attempting to find and film these elusive nocturnal predators, using all the equipment and techniques we could.

On the weekend of November 7th the want Autumnwatch viewers to help them with their . Most birdwatching is done during the day so the BTO are hoping our viewers can take on the night shift. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to get out there in the woods like we did.

This is one of the easiest surveys you can take part in, because if you don't want to go out into the woods in the dark, you can contribute from the comfort of your own bed. All you need to do is open a window, listen out for the synonymous 't-wit'('kewvick') or 't-woo' of the tawny owl, and then let the . Easy!

Check out the 91Èȱ¬ Wildlife Finder and websites to help you identify tawny owls by their calls.

Martin Hughes Games also came along to the Lake District to investigate Britain's ancient trees. He has a big passion for these pieces of natural history, and Borrowdale has three (previously four) very famous trees, which are incredibly old.

The Borrowdale yews are all recorded as being over 1,500 years old. They have lived through world wars, influential lifetimes and momentous historical events. They have been canonized by poets such as William Wordsworth, and still grow, photosynthesise and live healthily in complete peace. Well, apart from the 265 days of rain, wind and snow every year, so almost peaceful...

To find out more about ancient trees have a look at these articles: