Autumn on the Water

Approximately one third of the surface area of Milton Country Park is water.  Not surprisingly, the bankside trees and vegetation make a large contribution to the spectacular autumnal display in the park.

Todds Pit - 11 November 2015

In the first instance, the water simply reflects the colours of the surrounding trees.  Although this image was taken in the second week of November, in this mildest of autumns, the reeds and a great deal of the surrounding tree foliage were still bright green.

Dickerson's Pit - 16 November 2015

This theme of the slow rate of change of some of the foliage is continued in this photograph.  Here goat willow growing on an island in the middle of Dickerson's Pit shine bright yellow as they catch the late afternoon sun.  In the foreground, the reeds are still the same colour as they have been all summer long.

Dickerson's Pit - 12 November 2015

In contrast, it is these reeds (? soft rush Juncus effusus) on the northern edge of Dickerson's Pit that have already turned brown, while most of the surrounding trees are still green.

Collecting Leaves

 

Dickerson's Pit - 25 November 2015

Leaves that fall onto the water are blown about by the wind until they eventually accumulate in a quiet backwater.  The leaves in this picture probably have not moved very far at all: this inlet is so sheltered these leaves are where they fell.

The Reed Bed

Over the course of this blog, I have been recording the changes in one particular reed bed at the north end of Todd's Pit.  In April, the reeds were still completely brown, despite the general greening of the park at the time.  By May, the bed was a fifty-fifty mixture of green new growth and dead brown reeds from the previous autumn. The reeds finally came into flower in September, by which time all trace of the previous year's growth had finally disappeared.

Todd's Pit - 2 November 2015

By early November, the reeds were already beginning to turn brown.  The flower heads in particular had already lost the purple brown of earlier.

Todd's Pit - 4 December 2015

Just over a month later, the reeds were almost completely brown.  Compared to the same bed in April, the bed is denser and the reeds are a more golden brown, but little else is different. 

Next:  Wind



  



 











 

Autumn Leaves

The changing colour of the leaves not only transforms the trees, but also the ground beneath with a carpet of red, yellow and gold.  This post documents that carpet in Milton Country Park.

North of Deep Water - 8 October 2015

One of the earliest trees to start decorating the ground was this tree on the green north of Deep Water.  This early in October, few if any of the other trees in park had started to change colour.

Remembrance Meadow - 28 October 2015

These oak leaves were below the tree in Remembrance Meadow that I featured in my last post.

By Fen Road Exit - 28 October 2015

In that same post, I noted that there was very little red in the park in autumn.  Here, hidden away in the wood to the left of the path leading to the Fen Road exit, the ground was covered was brightly coloured leaves from a single plane tree.

South of Park - 2 November 2015

But the overwhelmingly predominant colour in the park was yellow.  Here the path through the woods is completely hidden beneath the leaves.

South of Park - 28 November 2015

Elsewhere in the same woods, the ground is covered by leaves from almost every type found in the park.  This image includes field maple, willow, oak and hawthorn.

South East Corner of Park - 8 November 2015

Once on the ground, willow leaves develop a range of colours including a dull purple and various shades of red and brown.  

Next: Autumn on the Water

High Autumn

Autumn colour in Milton Country Park was at its peak during late October and early November: the park was engulfed in a sea of yellow.

Remembrance Meadow - 28 October 2015

The few trees whose foliage did turn red, like this oak tree in Remembrance Meadow, were dramatically highlighted by the surrounding tidal wave of yellow.

By Visitor Centre - 15 October 205

This row of poplar trees on the banks of Todd's Pit provide a flaming backdrop to the visitor centre.  These  trees were among the first in the park to change colour, and subsequently among the first to lose their leaves entirely.

Remembrance Meadow - 28 October 2015

Also on the south side of the park, the yellow foliage of this birch tree catches the sun and makes a dramatic contrast with the darker sky beyond.

East Bank of Dickerson's Pit - 25 October 2015

Elsewhere in the park, the display was no less spectacular.  In the woods on the east bank of Dickerson's Pit, the willow, hawthorn and birch trees all turned yellow at the same time.  As shown in this image, the view through the woods was one of a wall of yellow leaves.

Hall's Pond - 25 November 2015

On the east bank of Hall's Pond, this seat was bathed in a yellow / green light from the sun filtering through the willow and sycamore leaves.

Path Besides Wetlands - 25 October 2015

A combination of sycamore and hawthorn turned this path running between Deep Water and Wetlands into a tunnel of green and gold. 

By Sundial Mound - 2 November 2015

As autumn progressed, leaves dropping off the trees created a carpet of gold beneath.  

My next two posts will both be about this most colourful time of year: firstly looking at the beauty colours of the fallen leaves; then, how autumn changed the appearance of the water in the park.

Next: Autumn Leaves

Late Flowers

It is possible to see the odd flower blossoming at any time of the year in Milton Country Park.  Outside of the two garden areas, there were a few plants defying the season and flowering during October and November.

South of Park - 4 October 2015

In early October, there were still a number of blackberry bushes flowering quite vigorously, alongside ripe fruit on the same bush. In the background of the image above, the bushes are just beginning to turn yellow.

 

By Dickerson's Pit - 12 October 2015

Herb robert seems to be one of those plants which are forever flowering.  No matter when, if you search hard enough for the easily overlooked small flowers on the low growing plants, you can always find these pretty pink flowers somewhere.  Here they are in the tangled undergrowth of the woods on the east bank of Dickerson's Pit.

Deep Water - 12 November 2015

This single convolvulus flower is the last straggler in an area that was once white with its blossom.  Within a week of this photograph being taken, all the convolvulus flowers had gone from the park.

 

South of Park - 8 November 2015

Probably because of the mildness of the season and lack of any frosts, this hogweed, shown here against a background of autumn colour, was flowering quite profusely.

In the Garden

Garden - 8 November 2015

In the gardens in the park, there were a number of plants with little bits of blossom on, the left overs from a summer show.  Once such plant was this rose which is in almost perfect condition. 

 

Garden - 8 November 2015

By contrast to the previous pictures of plants flowering at the end of their season, my final photograph is of winter jasmine which is just starting to blossom.  If anything, this is early.

Next: High Autumn

Early Autumn

The first tentative signs of autumn in Milton Country Park first appear in late September and early October.

Remembrance Meadow - 22 September 2015

The signs can be almost imperceptible: in this case just a few leaves on the oak tree have turned a vivid red.

Todd's Pit - 20 September 2015

Or, an equally subtle change, the leaves on a reed turning yellow.

Such changes can be the result of stress or disease.  But, as there have been no extreme weather during the summer of 2015, it is likely that the alterations in colour are a genuine response to the change in season.

Path on East Side of Dickerson's Pit - 22 September 2015

In the woods to the east of Dickerson's Pit, this elder bush is turning yellow before any other trees in the vicinity.

South of Park - 22 September 205

Amongst any other factors that affect the rate of change to autumn colours, position has some role.  This hawthorn bush is growing in a position to catch the afternoon and evening sun, and has turned red a long time ahead of most of the other hawthorns in the park. I have already noticed during previous months, that there can be anything up to a month between the first and last appearance of some change or other in the park.  

Deep Water - 4 October 2015

One of the earliest trees to complete the transition to autumn colours was this sycamore tree on the south east corner of Deep Water.

I have found it a lot easier to capture these very early and tentative signs of the change of season than I did the corresponding changes in spring.  This is partly because the transition from the bare and brown to the green and fully leaved happened very quickly: in the case of hawthorn the change completed in little more than a fortnight.  This autumn, at least, the changes have been far more gradual and spread over a period of months. Secondly, by the time a fledgling leaf on a bough is large enough to register in anything but closeup, the tree or bush is already covered in confluent vegetation and the change is complete.  Finally, as shown above, there is a wide variation in the start of and the speed of change across the park: a sycamore completely yellow when other sycamores stayed green for another couple of months.

An Autumn Morning

Sundial Meadow - 11 October 2015

I finish with that most autumnal of scenes: grass covered in dew shiny in the early morning sunlight, complete with the photographer's transport and footprints.

Books and Blogs

There are a lot of nature blogs on the net, most of which are more concerned with the fauna than with the landscape.  One of my favourites is Tales of the City featuring wild life in London.  Two others, mostly photographic, are Roy's Nature Logbook and The Quiet Walker .

Next: Late Flowers

Fruit

In spring, Milton Country Park is transformed by successive waves of white blossom, which, in turn, develops into ripe fruit from late July onwards.

By Path to Fen Road Exit - 23 July 2015

The first trees to blossom in the park are the cherry plums and the blackthorn in late March (see post Blossom).  Four months later, appetizing ripe plums hang on the boughs.  At the time this photograph was taken there were masses of unripe plums on the tree.  When I went back to photograph the tree just over a week later, all the plums had gone.

South East Park - 28 July 2015

At the same time as the cherry plums are getting ripe for picking, the blackthorn berries still have a way to go.  I only found this one bush by the poplars in the south east corner of the park with any berries on it.  

By Fen Road Exit - 10 September 2015

About a month after the blackthorn, came the apple trees (see post Apple Blossom Time).  By September, a variety of apples, large and small, red and green, could be seen on the trees around the park.

North of Deep Water - 20 September 2015

In some cases, the windfalls were more conspicuous than the apples left on the trees.

By Hall's Pond - 10 September 2015

There was a magnificent display of hawthorn during May (see post May). But whether it was the weather - there was a very heavy storm just at the peak of the blossom -  or whether it is the position of the bushes in the park, the crop of berries in the park seemed disappointing.  Frustratingly, I saw plenty of bushes around Milton that were red with berries, but none in the park itself.  This bush was one of the bushes that provided an amphitheatre of white in the centre of the park by Hall's Pond shown in earlier post.

Play Area - 23 August 2015

The last two bushes which produced a profusion of white flowers were the elder and the bramble.  Elderflowers were the slightly earlier of the two, appearing early to mid June (see post Elderflower Time).  Despite the late flowers, elderberries are some of the first fruit to ripen.  Here, in a favoured location with plenty of sun by the play area, the characteristic deep purple berries are evident by the end of August.

East Bank Todd's Pit - 20 September 2015

Less than a fortnight after the elderflowers, the brambles start their long flowering period (see post Summer Flowers), with the fruit ripening less than six weeks later.  As a result, I could have taken a picture like the one above just as easily in August.  I didn't because I waited to get an image of a bush laden with luscious fully ripe black blackberries.  After a month of trying, I realised that such an image is not possible, because almost as soon as the berries ripen they are eaten - mostly by humans.  So I settled for a bushful of most red but some black berries.

Next: Early Autumn

The Orchard

I ignored the orchard in Milton Country Park until the middle of August.  I ignored the orchard because all my previous attempts at photographing an orchard had ended in failure.  The lines of trees full of blossom or heavy with fruit always finished up looking messy and lacking impact in my images.

Orchard - 6 September 2015

With the bench donated by Cambridge Building Society in the foreground, this image at least gives some suggestion of serried ranks of trees. 

Wild Flowers

Orchard - 16 August 2015

I probably would have continued to avoid the orchard had it not been for this white campion growing in the the corner of the fence.  I am always interested in plants growing in obviously man made surroundings such as walls, pavements, and, in this case, through the mesh of the fence.

Orchard - 17 August 2015

It was while photographing the campion that my eye was caught by the orange marigolds in the newly planted wild flower bed on the mound below the seat.  I regretted not having visited this area earlier, as clearly the flowers here are past their best.

Orchard - 17 August 2015

The trees in the orchard provide an appropriate backdrop to this statuesque teasel.

Fruit

Orchard - 23 August 2015

At the end of the day, an orchard is about fruit. In this image, the unripe apples gleam in the morning sun and stand out from the surrounding foliage.  There is the promise of a good harvest.

Orchard - Various Dates 2015

Finally, here are some of the fruit 'picked' by the camera.

Despite repeated visits to the orchard during August and September, I failed to convincingly capture the trees laden with fruit that I saw with the naked eye.  The fruit somehow disappears into the foliage when it is photographed.  The only time the fruit is the clear star of the image is in close-up, and then you can't see the orchard for the fruit.  This is clear example of the major difference between human vision and what the camera sees.  When we look at a scene, our attention is focussed on what interests us, which looms large; what does not interest us is ignored.  The camera records everything dispassionately and objectively with equal emphasis. 

Next: Fruit