Autumn is here

The leaves may not yet be falling yet but there is a very autumnal feel about the heath – especially after a heavy shower when there is not a soul to be seen anywhere. Most unusual.

I don’t know whether this is a particularly fecund year for oak trees, but I have never seen, felt or heard so many acorns. As you crunch across a carpet of them under the trees you are constantly dive-bombed by acorns that shoot down like bullets and either hit you painfully on the head or plop loudly on the ground around you. If even 0.1% of them grow into trees the heath will be overwhelmed.

Another sure sign of autumn are the huge fungi that have popped up in the woods. This rather lovely specimen with soft golden petals like a massive overgrown rose,  must be nearly a metre across.

I didn’t realise on a first look that this one, hiding under a fallen tree, was actually a fungus at all – it looks more like flat meringue waiting for someone to top it with strawberries and cream.

Given that it has been so wet I thought I would share with you one of our overflowing streams – a few minutes of rushing water down on Millfield Lane.

And finally, when the skies cleared and the sun came out for a very brief hello, this very fine tree which – if you stretch your imagination – could bring to mind the goddess Kali with her many arms swaying in a gentle dance?