Woodlands.co.uk
Unseasonal weather
We have experienced an extended and warm autumn, and now true to Pliny's words -
“A fair and dry autumn brings in always a windy winter” - winter weather has now firmly settled upon us. The temperature is down to “more representative” seasonal values for December, and cold, high winds have recently lashed Scotland and other parts of the U.K.
The warmest Autumn (for some 300 + years) was in 2006, when the temperature was some 2.4 / 3 oC above the seasonal average ; places like Kinlochewe recording a daytime temperature of 22.5 oC. The recent mild weather * was due to an unusual pattern of high altitude winds over the Continent. The course of the jet stream meant that there were southerly winds and relatively settled conditions over the United Kingdom.
Spending time in woodland – an escape from the tyranny of modern time
Nature is the biggest public clock, but it operates in ways that contrast with our rather industrialised way of measuring time. Nature’s time is seasonal and much less uniform than the digital clock but it is also more forgiving. Things happen in a woodland when the time is right, rather than as a result of man-made regulation, and this very “natural” sense of time is what many people like about being in woodlands. Owners often tell us about how their woodland is an escape from modern life but it is particularly the escape from being a slave to clock-time which comes across most strongly. This enjoyment is of course linked to taking “time out” - it is a good thing to take time off work but it is a further escape to get away from being organised according to the clock. Read more…
Autumn leaves
At the end of the summer, the leaves should have done their job; that of making sugars to be used in growth, the formation of new twigs and branches, forming fruits and seeds. However, winter is not conducive to photosynthesis or growth; Read more…
Autumn fruits
Autumn is a time when the hedgerows and woodlands literally ‘bear fruit’ such as Blackberries, Elderberries, Haws (from Hawthorn), Rose hips, and Sloes (from the Blackthorn). Read more…
Lichens
At this time of year, woods can seem a bit ‘naked’ and empty. Trees and shrubs have entered into a dormant state in order to survive the rigours of the winter months, their buds await the signals that herald Spring. Many birds will have migrated to warmer climes, some animals will be hibernating, many insects will be spending the winter as eggs or pupae, whilst herbaceous plants will over-winter as seeds, corms or bulbs. However, on the bark of many trees and on the surfaces of fences and walls, there will be lichens – they are there summer, winter, spring and autumn. Read more…
Changing Colours – Why do leaves change colour in the autumn?
Come the autumn, the leaves of many deciduous trees change colour – no longer green they turn yellow, brown, red or purple. What has happened?
Blackberries – brambles
This is your last chance to pick your blackberries. Michaelmas (29th September) is, by legend, the day the Devil spits on them, making them inedible. Another version of the story is that a bramble patch broke his fall from heaven. There is a lot of tannin in brambles and perhaps after the 29th, at the end of their season when they start to wither, they are too bitter. They are pretty much over, here in the south-east, but may have a week or two left further north. Read more…
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
It will not be long before the signs of autumn are apparent to all of us, especially after such a hot and dry summer. Once again the BBC, the Woodland Trust and the UK Phenology Network are inviting people to help chart the advance of autumn – by recording 6 key species – blackberry, hawthorn, swifts, conkers, ivy and oak.
The collated information will help the UK Phenology Network build up a picture of Read more…