Fairburn Ings Sunday stroll

At Fairburn Ings, the majority of leaves have now fallen and the birches take their turn to provide pointillist splashes of colour, less saturated than those of beech and maple that glowed brightly earlier in the month.  

As the surrounding vegetation dies back, the more sombre tones serve to enhance the papery white birch trunks and their dark, thin lateral branches that still retain the small serrated yellow leaves. 

There was plenty of bird activity, at one point over forty Goldfinch flew into view and alighted in the treetops (left and centre), a minute or so later a similar number of Redwing circled the area, coming to rest in the uppermost branches of the tree to the right.

Another pleasing sighting were 4 Brambling feeding on the topmost branches of a Birch, although sadly I only managed this record shot. Plenty more sightings included a male and female Bullfinch, a Fieldfare, Kingfisher, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Long Tail Tit, Blackbird, Robin, Mute Swan, Cormorant, Moor Hen, and two Red Kites near Garforth.  

Autumn colours

Maples and cherries providing today's autumn update.

Leeds City Centre, autumnal views

Its impossible not to notice the current seasonal change even on the outskirts of Leeds City Centre. In the urban planting schemes and roadside verges the signs of autumn are all around.

On Sunday we spent half an hour wandering around sections of the riverside that we'd never really paid too much attention to before. Looking back towards Bridgewater Place, I'd never noticed this apple tree before which was heavily laden with fruit. Across the road there's a line of Small Leaved Limes, the leaves are turning rich yellows.  

In the culvert that runs alongside Water Lane that carries the Hol Beck into the River Aire we spotted tiny fishes feeding on vegetation which I didn't expect to see. Trying to find out more about this watercourse I came across Phil D's Flickr pages where has a collection of pics from a stroll along this section of the Hol Beck that are well worth a look. 

 

On the culvert bankside, leaves, stems and berries of a thicket of well established shrubs provide a tapestry of colour and no doubt plenty of cover for urban birds.

Fungi on the grassland near Whitehall Road overlooking the River Aire.

Near St Paul's Street next the site of the demolished Leeds International Pool this Stag's horn sumach (Rhus typhina) looking towards the Call Credit building.

Clusters of teeny-tiny cap and stem fungi growing on a grassy verge amongst fallen Sycamore leaves, near Whitehall flats.

Sweet Chestnut fruit

From my desk, if I crane my neck to look out of the window I can see the tops of four Sweet Chestnut trees (Castanea Sativa), between 3-6m tall. Underneath the autumn canopy is an abundance of fruits, encased in a sea urchin like spiny husk. The case opens into four sections on maturity to reveal up to three nuts, the tufted end being the remains of the flower stigma.

The leaves are leathery, elliptical, pointed with a serrated margin and turn a crisp golden brown at leaf fall. The Sweet Chestnut is more closely related to the Oak and Beech than the Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) which produces the more familiar inedible conker. The fruit are popular with jays and squirrels. 

Autumn Beech Leaves on Beckett Park

More rich autumn leaf colour, this time courtesy of the Common Beech (Fagus sylvatica). On my way into work each morning I pass by these trees on Beckett Park, Headingley, where today the leaves vary from green to yellow to gold to fiery orange.

Here's how these trees looked in January and April last year, and some previous posts about the emerging spring leaves and resilient winter leaves of the Beech.

Autumn colour in Park Square, Leeds

In Park Square, Leeds City Centre, ornamental trees in particular are aglow with autumn colour, no more so than this beautiful Japanese Maple, Acer palmatum located next to the Mayors for Peace Monument. The monument was unveiled by the Mayors of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Leeds in 2003 and remembers all the innocent civilian populations killed in conflicts since the atomic bomb blasts of 1945. 

The foliage of another tree in Park Square is suffused with slightly more golden tones, and is possibly a Red Oak, Quercus Rubra (although a second opinion would be most welcome). The commemorative plaque associated with it reads, 'Presented to the City of Leeds to mark the Christian Celebration of the Centenary on Sunday 4th July 1997'