Colour scene

What a difference a month makes. Way back in (warm, dry) October I took this picture of my walnut tree with the idea that I was going to post it here. The yellow of the leaves was so intense - somewhere between lemon or butter.
The tree is a slow-grower, but is coming along. I can't remember exactly when it went in, but it was probably the winter of 2002/3. More than 10 years ago anyway, and what was a stick is now two hand-spans around at the base.
Since the walnut picture was taken there have been weeks of rain and wind, and I never got around to taking the other leaf-colour pictures I'd intended to post with the walnut ones. Today was brighter though, so I went out with the camera.
The walnut is now completely stripped and bare, and most of the ash trees are too. But where it's more sheltered in the hedge some leaves are hanging on in there.
My watched tree, an oak sapling, is green and gold. The beeches that I used to plug a gap have grown quite well and their leaves are now crisp and brown, but for me its the field maples that are the most eye-catching.

Going strong

Me and my followed tree haven't go together that much over recent weeks. I blame the good weather (before Hurricane Bertha, that is) because I've been celebrating the sun by letting it get to my legs.

And wearing shorts doesn't mix well with nettles, does it?

The problem is that my little oak has disappeared behind a wall of big, tall stingers, so I've not been able to see it. But today I've put the legs away and fought my way through to  my tree.

Suprisingly, it looks as though it's doing really well. Its leaves are robust and it looks like its grown to nearly double its height, despite being shaded out by the opposition. Young oaks are clearly tougher than they look.

Tree following

I love the tree-following concept, as invented by Loose and Leafy, but have come to a following very late this year. It's not that I didn't know which tree I was going for, but that I haven't been able to get a decent photo.

This one isn't great, but it gives an idea; the problem is that my oak is more a sapling than a tree. Just a twig really.
It doesn't really register on my camera's auto focus and becomes bashful when faced with a camera - seemingly disappearing into its surroundings. But now it has tiny, new copper-coloured leaves and looks a bit more like a tree-in-the-making.
One boundary of our garden is a proper Pembrokeshire hedge, which I'd guess dates back to a time when it surrounded a field and there were no houses in the area. It's an earth bank that's about waist height into which hedge shrubs were planted, in the Pembs way.
Those shrubs (or their offspring) are now massive, contorted old ashes and the hedge is full of gaps. With ash dieback in mind I've been putting new plants into the gaps using any self-seeds I can find - a mix of hazel, holly and blackthorn.
And, since February, my tiny oak. I came across it last summer growing in the middle of a patch of grass that was growing long and spared it from the strimmer.

Their are no oak trees close to us, so how my little tree got where it was is a bit of a mystery. Perhaps the acorn was part of a food cache hidden away by a squirrel or a jay. 
Oaks are great trees for earls (or oligarchs), but I don't really have the acreage for one, so it had to move. Then it occurred to me that an oak can be cut and re-grow just like any other hedgrow plant. It now sits in place up on the hedge bank and is a 'followed' tree. And, so far, it seems to enjoy the attention.     

Leaf watch

At last we've had a proper autumn day here. The tree colours have been pretty good for a week or so, but because of the rain the fallen leaves on the ground have been quickly turning to mush.
Dry leaves to scuff your feet through is part of the autumn experience, isn't it? But over the last few days the leaves have been drying out nicely and the scuff factor is finally on the up.

Field maple

Back working on the hedges this afternoon I've been up a ladder again and that's given me the chance to do a bit of a leaf fall audit. The ash leaves are mostly gone already, stripped off the branches by the wind before their green had faded to yellow.
Across the valley the oaks still have their leaves in place and but they're now a rusty, red-brown. My hedges are mostly blackthorn and its leaves are now a striking, sun-catching lemon yellow that's almost as bright as the few field maples I put into the gaps a winter or two ago.

Distant drums

A first for the year, a great spotted woodpecker drumming away somewhere on the far side of the valley. During most of our winters here on the Cych a GSW has been a daily visitor at the birdfeeders, but this year it has rarely put in appearance.

I assume that they breed in one of the veteran trees on the far side of the valley. There are plenty of them - big oaks and alders with lots of ailing, decaying limbs. Presumably, the woodpeckers have had a relatively easy time of it through this mild winter and haven't had to take their chances along with the other garden bird 'faces'.

That may change now. We've been free of snow here, but on the higher ground to the south and east it has snowed quite heavily and the forecast is for very cold temperatures. It may be that my drumming woody has jumped the gun.