Autumn in England
Autumn
has arrived in England. Here are a few photos I took in a local park.
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This park
in Hendon, North London is typical of the small parks which are dotted
around suburban areas of London. Located on top of a hill, this park has great
views of the area and even of the countryside beyond London.
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Meandering
through the centre of the park is an attractive avenue of trees which
provide welcome shade in summer. I took these photos in late October as
the leaves were just starting to fall. There are more spectacular autumn
colours to be found in our forests, private gardens and larger parks,
but I wanted you to see some typical scenes.
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Most of the
trees in the avenue are horse chestnuts, like this one. I love the
broad, spreading leaves of these trees and their pretty autumn colours.
These trees also look lovely in early summer when the they are covered
in white flowers.
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As you
follow the path to the bottom of the park you will pass a small pond
allowed to grow wild to encourage frogs and other wildlife, a broad area of grass
that is used as a cricket ground in summer and an area containing swings
and slides for children. There are also tennis courts and a small
cafe.
Many people
use the park to walk their dogs or to have a picnic when the weather is
fine. As it's on a hill it is also a good place for flying a kite! In
the winter its also a great place for sledging. See our '
January Snow' article to see this.
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The leaves
of the horse chestnut are large and drooping. This tree is also a
favourite with children. In late summer it produces a large, hard brown
fruit which we colloquially call a 'conker'.
You can't eat conkers but
for many generations children have collected them to play a game. They
drill a hole right through the conker and thread a string through it,
held in place with a knot.
One child holds the conker at the end of it's
string. The other child holds his own conker by the string and tries to
break the first conker by hitting it with their conker. You take it in
turns to hit each conker, until one breaks and the game is over. Of
course the one with the surviving conker is the winner!
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A close-up
of some of the leaves. As well as the horse chestnut there are also some
oak leaves, in the top right of the picture. As I was photographing
these leaves some children came by with their mother and asked what I
was doing. I said I wanted to find a conker to add to the picture, but
they laughed and said they had already taken them all. I thought children now were
more interested in computer games but it seems that they still collect
conkers!
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In
England we have just had the warmest October on record, but as we now
enter November it has suddenly turned colder and the leaves are rapidly
disappearing from these trees. In a few weeks these trees will be
completely bare.
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