Explosion of colour

Dom provides a feast for the senses as autumn arrives at Monkwood...

Autumn has arrived at Monkwood and it leaves me spellbound every year. It may not be as dazzling as the display of maples in New England or acers in Japan but it’s still a riot of colour that makes me adore autumn.

As we know, Monkwood has lots of different trees and shrubs within it because it’s an ancient wood and has been developing over thousands of years. This diversity is brilliant for wildlife but also gives us such a variety of colour and form in the autumn. Since the leaves burst out in spring, Monkwood has been a tapestry of greens and browns and, whilst this is lovely, everything starts to look a bit tired by this time of year! Having an explosion of different colours is such an uplifting change for the eye.

yellow leaves of a field maple in autumn — Field maple by Wendy Carter

The main trees in Monkwood are oak and ash and although these aren’t known for their colours, they provide a mellow background of fading greens and russet browns against which other trees can shine. Wandering through with the scent of woodsmoke drifting across the landscape and the calls of recently arrived redwings overhead, I spot a buttercup-yellow field maple followed by a couple of young wild service trees bedecked in shades of ruby. Dogwoods stand out with their plum-red leaves and their stems can also be very colourful when they’re young.

spindle berries - bright pink with an orange centre — Spindle by Wendy Carter

Wandering up the main track, there’s a patch of spindle that I always admire when the days turn cooler. The berries are so vibrant they look more like shades of colour you’d find in lipsticks and nail varnish; bright pink and orange are a clear advertisement for any wildlife looking for an autumn snack. Sloes have had a good year it seems and the deep blue of the fruits look magnificent against the mustard yellow of the leaves and long, dark brown thorns. A few cherry leaves are clinging on but most have been lost to early autumn storms. Every now and then, a patch of beech announces its presence in a blast of copper. My favourite of all is probably the guelder rose. The leaves and berries are a shade of magenta that I love and after rain the berries look almost like they’ve been polished.

I’ve tried many times over the years to dry fallen leaves and preserve their colour but I’ve never quite got the knack of it! One of these years I’ll research it properly and then have autumn colours on my desk all year long.

Oak leaves in autumn - lobed, yellow-burnt orange leaves - against a blue sky — Autumnal oak by Rosemary Winnall

Of course, nature doesn’t simply change colour to give us a ‘wow’ moment. There are very important processes going on that have existed for millions of years and to a tree, they're as automatic as breathing is to us. When the weather cools down in autumn and there is less sunlight landing on the leaves, the chlorophyll in each leaf starts to break down. Chlorophyll is the pigment that keeps leaves green and it’s dominant over the other coloured pigments in a leaf. So when chlorophyll starts to break down, the other colours are revealed for a short time until the leaf falls and withers.

The amount of other colours in the leaf is dependent on the tree species and the weather. Triggers for more red in the leaves include a dry sunny year, an intense cold period or the tree has been under another kind of stress. A mild and stable year will produce more of the yellows and oranges.

There are many things that the changing colours can tell us. It’s much easier to see what tree species make up a woodland just by looking for different colours. The rainbow of leaf colours tell us what the growing conditions have been like that year as well as which trees are growing where. They can tell us how diverse a woodland is and, therefore, whether it’s likely to be beneficial to wildlife.

Autumn colours are fleeting and always leave you wanting more. No sooner have you realised that the season has shifted, storms blow through and everything’s over. There are so many places to see fabulous autumn colour for yourself – gardens, parks, arboretums, your local wood – so please wrap up and go to find them! Noticing and appreciating the beauty of the changing seasons really helps to connect to the natural world and you won’t regret it.