Late autumn colour

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On a recent walk in the Forest of Dean we noted how most deciduous trees had lost a lot of leaf in a relatively few days. This autumn, in my part of the world, has been relatively calm and mild, but change was in the offing as we walked through the oaks and pines near the Speech House. Here, once again it was the fiery oranges and golds of the beech trees that caught the eye.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Autumn reflections

Reflections in water offer the opportunity of doubling the impact of a shot. This example shows, mainly, the deep colour of autumn beech and oak trees next to Hartleton Lakes, near Ross on Wye. I took a couple of photographs from this point. The other example didn't include the near vegetation or the fishing platform. When I asked a few people which of the two shots they preferred only one, my eight year old grand-daughter, liked the wider view with the platform, the view that I also prefer.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P950

Beech avenue, Hereford

The public open space on the south side of the River Wye at Hereford is graced by a beech avenue. In November it looks its best as each tree shows colours slightly different from its neighbour's. There is no doubt in my mind that autumn brings out the best in the beech and I have long thought it to be the finest tree at this time of year, better even than the acers.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Autumn beeches

Arboriculturists seek to breed ever more beautiful trees. Over the years we have visited a number of arboretums and have been impressed by the variety of colours that have been coaxed out of tree families. Acers, in particular, have been the focus of plant breeders and a vast range of leaf shapes and colours have been drawn from this variety. But, every autumn, as I gaze upon the native beech trees' leaves changing from green to brown to orange then gold, I remind myself that there are few finer sights than the autumn sunlight seen through the leaves of Fagus sylvatica. These examples were photographed in the Forest of Dean.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Tree pollarding

Our neighbour recently took advantage of still air, a dry day and the season of winter to have a large beech tree pollarded. Seeing the tree surgeons at work in the garden reminded me that ten years ago, almost to the week, we had a large willow tree in the garden of our previous house pollarded. Having such work done is always a hard decision. On the one hand a very tall tree near buildings presents a potential problem in high winds and can impact on the cost of insurance. On the other hand big trees bring beauty to gardens and the wider neighbourhood as well as providing food and habitats for birds and insects. About a third of the height was removed and inevitably it looks odd at the moment. However, the leaves and fresh shoots will soon return it to a more natural shape.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Autumn afternoon light

Some of the best light for capturing the colours of autumn can be found in the afternoon. Find the right angle to the sun and you can engineer greater colour saturation and stronger contrast in photographs. In this part of the Forest of Dean the trees, mainly beeches, were showing to great effect as we walked among them.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Young beech trees

England's "King of Trees" is the oak, its consort being the "Queen of Trees", the beech. The beech is a long-lived species and naturally occurs in the British Isles in south east England and south east Wales. It prefers well drained soils, and particularly those on chalk and limestone. However, such is the beauty and utility of the tree, it is now found in many areas of our islands. In Herefordshire and elsewhere I have noticed its liking for slopes, presumably because they drain quickly. These examples are relatively young beech trees and the area in which they are growing exhibits another feature of the species - they suppress the growth of the woodland floor suffering only the most persistent plants to thrive beneath their canopy.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Autumn beech trees

2018's cold spring and hot summer has produced a wonderfully colourful autumn, with beautiful displays of leaves in woods, hedgerows and gardens. I've often found that the last days of October and the first week or so of November to be the best times to photograph autumn leaves and that has proved to be the case once again. The beech trees have been showing varying shades of orange and yellow, eclipsing, but only just a similar palette in the oak trees.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100