Autumn 2020 in England has been particularly good for the colours. This is due to the weather over the preceding months. An article in the Guardian forecast this in early Oct : "UK set for burst of vivid autumn colours after sunny September. A spectacular and prolonged autumn display of colour is predicted for the UK’s parks and gardens thanks to good sunny spells in the spring and September and some nurturing dampness in the summer. The golds, reds, purples, russets and oranges that provide a burst of joy before the winter months are likely to be particularly vivid this year, the National Trust said."
It is the length of daylight hours that is the primary trigger for trees to begin the process of shutting down for the winter. The leaves change colours before they are shed. Weather conditions through the summer and early autumn affect the rate of leaf loss and intensity of colour. The clocks went back one hour on 25th Oct.
The green chlorophyll pigments, which help the leaves produce sugars from sunlight, break down to reveal a dazzling rainbow of yellows, oranges, reds and russets. See more about the colours on this BBC blog.
These leaves had already fallen by 19 Oct and there were lots of berries:
I also saw an abundance of fungi in many places
As someone recently said on tv, autumn is the time when nature is having a party.
Hornimans Park had been growing pumpkins and gourds all summer and this was the result -
Some of the gourds before being harvested -
A swan family on Regent's Canal. The cygnets stay with the parents until next Spring -
A green woodpecker feeding on grapes (and my blog about this)
One of my best times for autumn colours was when I was in New Hamphire in the USA. See my blog.
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