Open-mouthed and trigger happy

3rd November 2024. Where the reds play dead, and the days grow cold…

Leaving Heathrow airport at the end of October many years ago, to take up a job in Kenya, I was delighted by thought of what I could now look forward to. And I won’t lie; I was also secretly hoping for a year of sunshine and returning home with a tan that would be the envy of everyone. It was a vague hope, though. The sun did not shine as often as I had expected (not in Nairobi at least) and my skin just isn’t designed to tan. In this instance, the weather was far more surprising than my pale body. But it wasn’t as strange as noticing the absence of seasonal change or the lack of clock-changing shenanigans. No spring, no autumn and no winter. Just a sliding scale of summer on a line of Kenyan to British-ish, and the metronomic consistency of daylight to dark night hours. Of all the things I thought I would miss about home; the seasons was not one of them. Especially the majesty of autumn.

One of the many places you can witness the glory of autumn is in an arboretum, where the diversity of this living collection of native and non-native trees and shrubs surely contributes to the diversity of the colours you see. The English use of the word arboretum was first coined in a gardening magazine in 1833, by the landscape gardener John Claudius Loudon, and there are more than 40 arboreta to choose from in the UK.

One of Britain's oldest is Arley Arboretum, which lies in the county of Worcestershire. Home to more than 300 species of trees, it features a 65m long Laburnum arch (the longest in Britain) and was once voted the best place to see the colours of autumn. Given such a claim, it was obviously essential that I went along to see for myself.

I wasn’t disappointed. Even the drive into the grounds and the view from the car park was stunning. Which naturally kept me busy for a while and considerably lengthened the time otherwise needed to reach the entrance gate. The contrast of orange and yellows and the depth of their colours was too beautiful to ignore. And the nerd in me was preoccupied by the idea of all those carotenoids at play.

Carotenoids are the pigments responsible for our marvellous yellows and oranges and are actually present in the leaves all year round. The reason we don’t see them is because they are masked by that nifty little pigment called chlorophyll, i.e., the one that creates all the green and enables photosynthesis. Chlorophyll starts to move out of the leaves when the cold begins to set in (metaphorically packing its suitcase for warmer climes and holidaying underground) – and that’s when the carotenoids shine. Red colours are the result of another pigment and emerge just before leaf-fall.

The kaleidoscope of colours lit up by the sun shining through the canopies was truly magnificent, and I was heartened to see my fellow visitors similarly being wowed. For once, I was not the only one staring open-mouthed or shutter button happy. Leaving your mouth open during an autumn display is not advisable in the long term, however, due to the risk of swallowing the falling leaves. I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced such a spectacle in nature before – not only watching it but feeling part of it. Not only hearing the crunch of the leaves under my feet but also able to catch them before they fell. So, my verdict on Arley Arboretum? It definitely lived up to its autumn claim. See you next time.

Common Beech: is a native to our UK shores and often revered as the queen of British trees – maturing at a height of more than 40 metres (which is about the length of two cricket pitches), and potentially living for several hundred years. Veterans are typically 125-200 years and achieve ‘ancient’ status once they reach 225 or more. The branches of this enchanting tree are cathedral-like and spread upwards, which together with their autumnal carpet of leaves gives rise to shady woodlands and habitats where only specialist species can grow (including a selection of orchids and various fungi). In their youth, beech leaves are edible – discerned by their lime green colour and silky fringe, but the colour slowly darkens with age and the hairs are lost. Beech nuts develop in a woody cup known as beechmast and were once a popular food fed to pigs. The French, however, have a tradition of roasting them for coffee. The versatility of this tree doesn’t end there either. Twigs have been used for divining and the timber for fuel, tool handles and furniture.

Red Dead-nettle: has been on my list of wildflowers to see all summer and I was delighted to come across it today. As one of the earliest plants to flower in the year – from February and into the winter – it is a valuable source for busy bees searching for food throughout the seasons. Like the White Dead-nettle mentioned in an earlier blog, the 'Red' has a nettle-like appearance but no sting – and is edible, raw or stir-fried. The leaves are stalkless too, which helps to distinguish it from other similar looking species. Red Dead-nettle tends to grow in gardens, on waste ground, roadsides and along roads, but I found it nestling in the woodland shade beside a fence. The red in its name perhaps refers to the colour of its pollen rather than its flowers, as these are pinkish purple – and consist of a hood and multiple lobes. Not only useful for bees and hungry humans, the Red Dead-nettle has been co-opted for medicinal purposes in folklore – one of three used to treat sudden and stabbing pain. ‘Stabbing’ is somewhat ironic in this context, since the ointment is meant to be rubbed on the affected part with a knife blade.

References

Arley Estate (not dated, but I assume 2024) Arley Arboretum. https://www.arleyestate.co.uk/arley-arboretum/

Great British Gardens (2024) Arboretums Near Me in England, Scotland and Wales. https://www.greatbritishgardens.co.uk/aboretums.html

Hugh Asher (2023) Why do trees loose their leaves in Autumn? https://silvotherapy.co.uk/articles/why-trees-loose-their-leaves-in-autumn

Kathy Willis (2024) Good Nature. Bloomsbury Publishing; Great Britain

Lucy McGuire (2024) Seven of the UK’s Most Glorious Arboretums. https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/seven-of-the-uks-most-glorious-arboretums-for-autumn-7cjw2ldtq

Neil Fletcher (2010). Pocket Nature. Wild Flowers. Dorling Kindersley Limited; London

Sarah Raven (2011) Wild Flowers. Bloomsbury Publishing; Great Britain

The Measure of Things (2024) How Long is 40 Meters? http://www.themeasureofthings.com/results.php?p=1&comp=distance&unit=m&amt=40.0&sort=pr

Wikipedia (2024) Arboretum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arboretum

Wikipedia (2024) Lamium Purpureum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamium_purpureum

Woodland Trust (not dated, but I assume 2024) Beech. https://ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk/how-to-record/species-guides/beech/

Woodland Trust (not dated, but I assume 2024) Beech, Common. https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/british-trees/a-z-of-british-trees/common-beech/