ORANGE CRUSH

I LOVE THE MAGICAL PATCHWORK OF COLOURS AT THIS TIME OF YEAR

- By AMY SHAKESHAFT The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside

WE'VE officially greeted the Autumn Equinox this week, and I've already been kicking up leaves, digging out my jumpers and taking note of the shorter evenings.

Keen to get out for a walk after work as often as possible before the weather comes in, I'm enjoying the patchwork of orange, brown and ruby red of the trees, and their dropped jewels of acorns, conkers and beech nuts nestled onto the crunchy leaf carpet.

It’s the time of year that I feel holds the magic of transformation in the air, and I pay more attention to the natural world when outdoors, but it’s also the time we look back at the year’s changeable weather and complain. What if I said that the trees also remember what's been going on with our weather patterns this year?

Rather than complaining about it, they respond to the situation by varying their production of fruits, nuts and seeds annually, depending on how the climate has been.