the copper beech in november

 

  

 

As I approached the copper beech tree, I was shocked to see that it was completely bare... all the leaves had gone. Surrounding trees are still holding on to most of their leaves, but not the copper beech. There was a thick carpet of curled copper leaves covering the grass under the tree. The husks of the few nuts the tree produced this year remain on the branches.

autumn

 

 

 

  

Woodland walks and bike rides during a very misty and murky half term holiday. We got wet and our boots heavy with mud but there were many smiles... especially with a spontaneous crabapple throwing/kicking/rolling contest.

The autumn landscape where otherworldly realms seem to merge with our own.

the copper beech in october

 

 

 

October is the month when this tree really comes into it's own. Standing in the warm sun gazing up at the thousands of shades of copper. Just how lovely...

foraging

 

As summer slips into autumn, it is a time of picking and preserving... and picking some more. 

My favourite wild damson tree in a hedgerow a few fields away was laden with fruit. A carrier bag full was promptly turned into damson chutney, followed by a batch of damson jam.

 

 

  

The plum tree in the allotment has had a wonderful year, with more fruit than ever before. The boys have been climbing up it to reach the sweetest fruits up in the top of the tree. We have picked and picked - eaten lots straight from the tree, given boxfulls away, made plum jam and plum chutney and even sold some in punnets on the doorstep with an honesty jar - and the tree is still laden! 

  

 In recent years I have made a small batch of elderberry syrup which is particularly good for those winter colds (a little with mixed with some hot water is very soothing).

 I do love hedgerow foraging...

the copper beech in september

 

 

The copper beech is beginning to take on darker tones as the season begins to slip into autumn. The light is hazy in the misty mornings.

The first of the leaves are falling, and the beech nuts are growing.

Joining in with Loose and Leafy's 'Tree Following'

Previous Tree Following posts here

the field in november

 

 

The first frosts of the season highlighting the pattern and structure of leaves, flowers and leaves. The low misty cloud making silhouettes of the bare trees. The hawthorns are getting stripped of their berries, only the red stalks remain. Any remaining leaves along with mosses and lichens are the sources of colour now (...and some of my favourite colour shades too).

foraging for christmas

 

 

 

Gathering larch cones with Christmas garlands in mind. Have been wanting to do this for the past couple of years but never seem to be near a larch tree at the right time. Today I had an hour to spare, a car and had noted the location of said trees AND the sun was shining so off I went. And what a blissful hour it was!

the hawthorn tree - november

 

 

In the fading afternoon light, the hawthorn tree is a silhouette of thorny branches and berries. The leaves have gone, but the berries remain. The colour of the lichen covered bark and the deep red of the berries is gorgeous. 

Joining in with Loose and Leafy's 'Tree Following' project.

the field in october

 

Before going to The Field to photograph this post, I expected that autumn leaves would be the main feature of this month, but it was the fungi that caught my attention.

 

This tree was a magnificent Copper Beech, before it started dying a couple of years ago. This autumn, it is covered in clusters of white fungi.

Different coloured fungi are sprouting up in the grassland too. 

 

And finally, the trees that I expected to photograph with their falling leaves.