Subtle; early autumn can only be truly experienced in a garden or park, on a rough country path, by the side of a river or in a lonely wood. Out on the pavements of town and city, autumn is experienced merely as the cooling and shortening of the passing days. This season of mystery and changing colour, reduced to little more than an inconvenience of chilling winds, as yet another year moves towards its end.
Out in the city streets, who has the time to experience the essence of a season captured by the fragrance of a woody, resinous perfume?
There is a quiet sense of serenity and wonder in an early autumn morning; the shades of brown, copper, gold and yellow that mantle the trees are vibrant and dazzling.
A chill springs up as rain passes, autumn gets deeper, the days grow shorter and the wind becomes cooler and stronger. The remaining leaves are blown from the trees and fall to the ground to decay and enrich the soil, ready to feed the new growth of next year’s spring. They cover pavements and paths with a rich kaleidoscope of colour, of russet brown, gold and yellow, each leaf a reflection of the tree from which it came. Pick up one or two to place between the pages of a well-loved book; a lasting memory of the sheer beauty that autumn brings to all; a token of the life that exists all around, beyond the normal matters of daily life.
Some photos taken at the Snuffmill Bridge, and then on a walk round the top wood on 24th October . . .
