Autumn Leaves

The trees are turning a glorious golden yellow. I've went to the New Forest today to see the autumn colours at the ancient woodlands at Bramshaw. The oaks are turning yellow and the beeches are well on their way to rich brown.

Garden Spiders

Early Autumn is the best time for observing Garden Spiders, their webs appearing stretched between whatever takes their fancy, in this case my garden fence. The intricate patterns on their backs are worth a closer look. The female spider lays eggs at this time of year and protects them until she dies, later in the Autumn. The spiderlings will hatch out in May of the following year. 

New Forest Beech Pollard

I went on a trip to the New Forest today and came across an ancient beech pollard. This beech must be over 300 years old as pollarding of beech and oak was made illegal in the New Forest in 1698, following the ‘Act for the Increase and Preservation of Timber in the New Forest’, which aimed to preserve timber for shipbuilding. Pollarding produces multiple stems at head height, out of the reach of livestock and deer and prior to the Act, beech, oak and holly were often cut in this way by commoners.  Pollarded specimens like the one below, can be considered with a degree of certainty to predate the Act and therefore have the status of being some of the oldest trees in the Forest.

Ancient Beech Pollard, New Forest