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'



Kirkstall creatures

Taking a meandering walk home from work, I passed by the allotments where something in the hedgerow caught my eye, initially I was slightly confused.


But then it shook and righted itself, I think its a male Great Tit, but I'd welcome a second opinion. My guess is that its just taken a bath and is preening and drying out in the sunshine. It's sat on our allotment perimeter fence, a stream runs directly behind this spot. Earlier in the year the stream was cleared and relevelled to maintain a more constant water level. A couple of years earlier hawthorns and roses were planted along the fence to create a barrier and provide shelter and food for wildlife. Great to see the local Kirkstall creatures are making use of the facilities.

Also on the hedgerow I noticed a familiar 7 Spot Ladybird on a Hawthorn leaf, the blossom held in tight bundles ready to burst any day.

Less familiar, could anybody help identify these two, would I be correct in thinking they're both Harlequin Ladybirds? UK Ladybird Survey has lots of information about Ladybirds species.

As some of the earlier flowering trees in the area lose their blossom, others come into bloom, this one in a hedgerow behind Queenswood Social Club car park.

Potteric Carr

This weekend we visited Potteric Carr for the first time. One of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Big 5 its an extensive reserve of with a range of wetland and woodland habitats, we'd gone with the hope of seeing the Bittern, yet despite a Bittern-less visit we really enjoyed our visit. From the hide we enjoyed close sightings of Gadwall, a Kingfisher, a pair of Little Grebe, Grey Heron and a number of Shelduck.

From the hide nearest the Field Centre the feeding station attracted a large number of Reed Bunting as well as Chaffinch, Robin, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Pheasant, Blackbird.

There are some lovely patches of Birch throughout the reserve, a tree suited to the poor soils associated with reclaimed mining areas. I love the way they catch the afternoon light in a woodland, the horizontal lenticels of its papery bark becoming more fissured with age.

Plenty of Alder too, like the Birch its a pioneer species and actually belongs to the Birch family. Here the yellow elongated male catkins in the centre and the more rounded darker female catkins. The catkins appear before the leaves.

A great attraction of these kinds of wetland areas especially on a sunny afternoon is the abundance and variety of waterscapes. The reflections of marginal vegetation in the ponds, streams and marshes provide glorious abstract views.

Beckett Park Beech leaves

Following on from last week's pics of near translucent Beech leaves in wintery afternoon light, this week Ive enjoyed contrasting views of the foliage as sunshine streams through the woodland margin, bathing the Beech leaves in a glorious golden glow. What an incredible difference a little light makes to the look and feel of a woodland.

The new shoots are visible alongside last year's leaves.

Here's the area of woodland that they're from, the Beech saplings flank the path extending an autumnal feel to the woodland way into the early days of March.

Beech leaves

The Beech (Fagus sylvatica) leaves in Beckett Park woodland are becoming more translucent as the time approaches for new leaves to appear. These ones caught my eye again this afternoon. The term for these persistent leaves is marcescence which is "the retention of dead plant organs that normally are shed. It is most obvious in deciduous trees that retain leaves through the winter. " The reason for the retention of the leaves is that Beech (and Oak) doesn't form a complete cork-like abscission layer which seperates the tree from its old leaves.

Kirkstall and Headingley sightings

More snow fell last night following yesterday's icy conditions which made this morning's walk into work somewhat crispy underfoot. Throughout the week Redwing have been a familiar sight in the woodland around Beckett Park and the hedgerow adjacent to the railway line.

The rose bushes outside of James Graham building are dotted with rosehips that stand out against the snow covered thorned stems.

On the walk in to work I notice that the bare trees appear silhouetted against the grey-white sky, almost devoid of colour and certainly worth a second glance.

Lunchtime wander

Following a lunchtime errand & in the proximity of Woodhouse Moor I wandered back to work through Hyde Park park & down through Leeds University campus. On the lookout for a splash of colour on a dull day, it was good to see the crocus in full display. A few trees with interesting bark caught my eye - birch, sycamore & plane. Ive always thought that Leeds is pretty good with its urban planting.