The Countryside in October

In the golden glade the chestnuts are fallen all;
From the sered boughs of the oak the acorns fall:
The beech scatters her ruddy fire;
The lime hath stripped to the cold,
And standeth naked above her yellow attire:
The larch thinneth her spire
To lay the ways of the wood with cloth of gold.

Out of the golden-green and white
Of the brake the fir-trees stand upright
In the forest of flame, and wave aloft
To the blue of heaven their blue-green tuftings soft:

But swiftly in shuddering gloom the splendours fail,
As the harrying North-wind beareth
A cloud of skirmishing hail
The grieved woodland to smite :
In a hurricane through the trees he teareth,

Raking the boughs and the leaves rending
And whistleth to the descending
Blows of his icy flail.
Gold and snow he mixeth in spite,
And whirleth afar; as away on his winnowing flight
He passeth, and all again for awhile is bright.

Robert Bridges 'North Wind in October'

_Reed

As this is being written - in mid month, there seems to have been little change now for a couple of weeks. It has rained a lot and there have been many floods - our favourite waterfall has been grossly swollen, and our favourite walks intensely muddy.

The rowans have been severely ravaged by the birds, and stand leafless, with scarlet fruit scattered on the ground beneath, and the only other tree showing much in the way of leaf loss is the horse chestnut, whose shiny brown fruit have long since been gathered by youngsters to thread onto strings and play 'conkers'. The beech tree leaves are turning coppery coloured, and there are plenty of beechnuts this year, now falling readily to the ground.

_{Beechwoods (late October)}

^Holly

The wind has pruned the oaks - many branch tips can now be seen lying beneath the trees, and whilst some acorns still remain attached to the trees, others have fallen to the ground and even started to sprout, taking advantage of the abundant moisture on the grass beneath.

^Braken

Fungi continue to be plentiful, though of late it has been too muddy to go collecting!!

^{False Chantarelles}

^{A 'specimen' Wood Blewit - very tasty!!}