Halloween has a funny way of turning the ordinary into the ominous. Shadows shift and leaves rustle, and familiar places suddenly feel full of things to fear.

But perhaps our Halloween monsters deserve a second look.

The Spider Who Came in From the Cold

If there's one creature capable of turning a perfectly ordinary home into a haunted house, it's the spider. A nighttime toilet trip can take a nightmarish turn when eight sprawling legs and four pairs of unblinking eyes greet you from the dark. All of a sudden, that urge for the loo doesn’t seem so urgent!

But while skittering spiders might send some of us scuttling in the opposite direction, they're actually doing us a favour. Spiders are great for pest control, catching and eating the insects we'd rather not have in our homes. They're the sort of housemates who actually pull their weight. 

And there's a reason you seem to notice so many of them in autumn. Male House Spiders spend this time of year roaming in search of females. That spider sprinting across your floor isn't out to get you, he's probably just looking for a mate.

So next time you find a spider taking up rent-free residence this autumn, perhaps resist the urge to evict your eight-legged tenant. It might be keeping some rather less welcome visitors at bay.

What Bats Do in the Shadows

When the sun goes down, Wiltshire's shadows come alive. Leathery wings flicker through the darkness, and suddenly stories of creatures of the night don't seem quite so far-fetched.

But even the infamous Vampire Bats aren't quite the bloodsuckers folklore would have us believe. They feed mainly on the blood of birds and livestock, taking only a small amount of blood from each host, far too little to bring down a cow. And thankfully, they aren't lurking around Wiltshire either. All three vampire bat species are native to tropical and subtropical parts of the Americas.

Our bats have much less sinister tastes. Wiltshire supports at least 14 of the 18 bat species resident in the UK, from tiny Pipistrelles weighing about as much as a 20p coin, to some of our rarest woodland specialists.

Pipistrelles make up for their size with a serious appetite, gobbling up midges, moths and other flying insects around gardens and rivers. Among Wiltshire's rarer bats are the Bechstein's Bat and the dark-furred Barbastelle, while both Greater and Lesser Horseshoe Bats can also be found in the county. These ecological all-rounders keep insect populations in check, signal healthy habitats and help drive conservation of the woodlands, hedgerows and waterways they depend on.

To find their dinner in the darkness, our bats use a clever trick called echolocation. They send out high-frequency calls and listen to the echoes bouncing back, building up a picture of what's around them and homing in on their next meal.

Forget Dracula. Wiltshire's bats have a busy night shift ahead.

Night of the Living Fungi

Autumn brings more than falling leaves. Sometimes, strange things start emerging from the earth.

Across the leaf litter, pale stems push their way into the light. Dark caps appear almost overnight. Clusters of mushrooms materialise from the soil, their strange shapes making the woodland floor look as though something is stirring beneath it.

And beneath that spooky surface, fungi are doing something rather gruesome: feeding on the dead. Fallen leaves, dead wood, and other organic matter become food, broken down and returned to the soil. 

But the mushroom is only the part you can see. Most of the fungus is hidden underground in a huge network of threads called mycelium. Down in the darkness, these fungal networks are quietly and constantly communicating through chemical signals, responding to their surroundings.

An entire hidden world beneath your feet. Talking in the darkness. Perhaps fungi are one Halloween horror we should actually be afraid of. After all, they're the ones eating the dead.

No Tricks, Just Treats for Wildlife

Halloween night is when we humans enter the eerie ecosystem. Suddenly, the autumn landscape is full of tiny vampires, witches, and ghouls, all marching through the streets in search of sweets. But while we're busy looking for the next house with the best stash, it's worth remembering what's happening around us.

A sweet wrapper dropped in the hedge isn't a Halloween decoration. Neither is a plastic cup abandoned on the pavement. What looks like harmless rubbish to us can become a trap or a tempting snack for wildlife.

So, this Halloween, when something goes bump in the night, don’t be too quick to reach for the garlic. Spare a thought for the creatures that keep Wiltshire’s wild places working.