OUT AND ABOUT
Changing times Our first sight of a swooping swallow, nodding snowdrop flower or pollen- dusted hazel catkin are all signifiers of an expectant spring, but the shifts from the height of summer into a balmy autumn are more subtle, protracted and diffuse. The heatwaves of the past two summers may have confused the amateur phenologist further, as the drought has prompted trees and shrubs to drop their leaves early and hasten their production of mast (fruits, seeds and nuts). This appears to the human eye as a ‘false autumn’, as plants bid for survival in response to extremes of heat and a baked earth. As I look out of my kitchen window, writing in late August, the leaves on the sycamore are reddening, bruised blue sloes hang off the blackthorn and the branches of the lone silver birch at the bottom of the garden are almost bare. This may not be so unusual, but strikingly the scene is very similar to the one at the tail end of July. It is the colour changes that we most notice as high summer fades and swathes of plants transition from vibrancy, fertility and growth towards a muted winter dormancy. In Cambridgeshire, the palette across the fields and fens shifts from the chlorophyll- drenched greens of spring, through the parched ochring of summer to pitch into a rich autumnal patina of gold, bronze and copper. Beneath these vivid washes of colour, the tonal drones of the soil provide an earthy canvas – be it dark peats, flint- peppered chalk, grey clays or dusty silts. Autumn is an uncloaking, a landscape- wide chemical reveal, as green pigments in
Autumn is an uncloaking, a landscape-wide chemical reveal , as green pigments in plants fade away
10 OCTOBER 2026 CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK
Powered by FlippingBook