Falling Leaves on a Woodland Walk

Autumn has moved on a pace and the beautiful colours are starting to fade and the leaves are falling at great number. Indeed as November gets into full swing and the weather takes a turn for the worse, you get a sense of the Autumn slipping away into winter. Despite this we still headed out for a wildlife adventure. We decided to go slightly outside Worcester to The Knapp and Papermill near Alfrick.

The Orchard

 This is a beautiful nature reserve managed by the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust. There is a range of habitats, which includes woodland and the Leigh Brook. As a result it is a great place to take the family to engage with wildlife as there is always something to see. This visit did not disappoint.

Leigh Brook

One of the top species that the reserve is meant to home is the Dipper. One of my favourite birds, I just get transfixed by its repeated bobbing up and down beside the river rapids. They bob for a few seconds and then they dive into the fastest flowing section of the river before returning to the surface with a meal of invertebrates, they are true wonders of evolution. Their adaptions have been covered in a previous blog.

Carpet of Leaves

On all my previous visits to the Knapp and Papermill I have never seen a dipper. I was wondering if their presence was fictitious, but I am always hopeful. On the walk I stopped by a collection of trees where there was a flock of long-tail tits. Scanning through I was really pleased to see a marsh tit and a number of goldcrest's. Whilst I was watching I heard an excited shout from along the path “dipper” indeed a dipper had been spotted. We waited and watched it for a few minutes before it flew along the path. We went on to spot total of three on our walk.

Dipper

As we walked around the reserve getting blown in every direction we became aware of the amount of leaves that were being blown by the wind. It is a fun game to play to try to catch a falling leaf; unfortunately our children are a little too old for that. However, we all started wonder if the losing of leaves is entirely down to the wind? It is easy to see how we connect the weather to the act of leaves falling. 

Orange Ladybird - Halyzia sedecimguttata

However, it is kind of obvious that there is more to it than the weather. Leaves drop when the weather is still and conversely brown leaves remain on the trees when the weather is at its most brutal. There is in fact a more scientific explanation to the leaves falling from the trees other than weather and the tree itself controls the process. It is called abscission.

Meadow

When the leaf has broken down all the leaf chemicals such as chlorophyll and removed them from the leaf the tree will stop the auxin. Auxin is a growth hormone. As the Auxin levels diminish the tree increases the ethene levels in the leaf. This causes an area between the branch and the leaf to develop an abscission zone. Here specialised cells break the leaf away from the branch. They do this by using enzymes to break down the cell walls. The result is a clinical separation of the leaf and the tree branch.

Woodland

Abscission is an amazing process and it is a real shame that the wind takes all the credit. It is also worthy to note that this process it is not only seen in the autumn. Evergreen plants do it throughout the year. It is also the same process that is used by plants to discard flowers, seeds and fruit. Indeed it is the same word used in mycology to disperse the fungal spores; perhaps that is for another blog. We just enjoyed the splendour and beauty of a woodland carpet of fallen leaves and learnt some science in the process.

The Colours of Autumn - Part 2 Chromatography.

This weekend resulted in a trip to Grimley for a bit of birding. I really love this time of year as there is a real possibility of anything turning up. And with plenty of reports around the region of some interesting birds I was very hopeful of finding a rarity or two. However, I found very little. In fact from a birding point of view the highlights were simply a few shovelers, a collection of wigeon, 7 little egrets and a couple of stonechats.

Grimley - Camp Lane Pits

Stonechat

Despite this I still enjoyed my walk around the pits and along the river. The colours were incredible and there is a real sense of being stuck between two seasons. As the sun poked through the clouds I had a glimpse of a few butteries and the odd dragonfly. I also spent lots of time admiring the autumn colours. The full range of colours that the leaves go is staggering. I know this was the main feature of my last blog but the pure beauty of autumn is difficult to get over. As a result I was easily inspired to do more on the topic.

Grmiley - Camp Lane Pits

The task was to carry out some chromatography on the different pigments in the leaves. So I collected a range of different leaves and most importantly different colours. To show the different stages of Autumn. As we walked around the area we collected as much as we could. We wanted to see as many of the different pigments that were on show as possible. We were reminded of the compound interest graphic showing what causes the green, yellow, orange and red colours.

Compound Interests Chemistry of Autumn Colours

Our Leaf Collection

We wanted to show that the yellow pigment is always present in leaves, just not visible due the the abundance of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is the green pigment that absorbed sun light that the plant then uses to carry out photosynthesis. It is green because it absorbs the red and blue parts of the spectrum and reflects the green. We also wanted to show that the red pigment develops later in autumn as a result of chemical reactions in the leaves after the leaf has lost its chlorophyll. The pigment is found in the cell sap and is formed when proteins react with the sugars in the cell sap. The reaction requires light and high concentrations of sugars.

Cutting and Crushing the leaves

The changing of the leaf colours is driven by a number of factors. Firstly the low temperatures cause the plant to break down the chlorophyll. Then the yellows are visible. The reds come from further chemical reaction (hence not see in green leaf chromatography). The leaf needs dry weather to help concentrate the cell sap and then warm sunny days to accelerate the chemical reaction between the sugar and cell sap. So if the conditions are right you will get some stunning colours in the woodlands.

A bit of Careful Warming to Extract the Pigment

Left Over Night 

When we got home we couldn't wait to get started on the chromatography. The first stage was to crush the leaves and soak them in a solvent. We initially warmed the mixture before leaving it over night to extract as much of the pigments as possible. Chromatography is a separation technique. This means that we can separate out all the different chemical found in the leaf. It uses to phases. First the stationary phase – the paper – which holds onto the different chemicals. The second stage is the mobile phase – the solvent – which carries the chemicals trough the stationary phase. The result is that in the green leaves you can see two colours: green and yellow. In the yellow leaves you can only see yellow and in the red leaves you can not see any green, just red and a little yellow.

The First Chromatogram - Both Green and Yellow Pigments

Our Full Results

The results of this investigation confirm our hypothesis but more than that it was a lot of fun. It was great to do some science as a family and get some colourful results. In addition, we managed to connect nature with scientific ideas. 

The Colours of Autumn

I love autumn and one of the reasons is the variety of colours that can be seen. I just love walking in woodlands marvelling at the colours that our beautiful planet provides. As a result of this I was excited and inspired by a graphic produced by compound interest. They had put together some information about the pigments that are found in the colours of autumn leaves. This set us a challenge: we were off to find as many of the different colours as possible.

Searching for Leaves in Trench Wood

Sycamore Leaves

We decided to go for a walk in a woodland just outside of Worcester called Trench Wood. Whilst autumn is not in full swing it was clear that there was plenty of different colours present in the trees. This meant that it was not long before we had a full set of autumn colours. It is incredible how many different colours there actually are. However, compound interest talked about 4. First of all you have the green colour of the summer. This is as a result of the chlorophyll, which will absorb the red and blue wavelengths of light and reflect the green. The leaf will use this energy to carry out the important process of photosynthesis.

Trench Wood

Beach

Woodland Clearing

As we move into autumn the leaf will break down the chlorophyl, so the leaf no longer looks green. What is left behind are some of the other pigments that have been present all year but hidden from view due to the abundance of chlorophyl. There are chemicals such as β-carotene (orange) and Lutein (yellow) and many more. As the leaves continue to break down reds and purples can be seen. These pigments are formed by the reaction of sugars contained in the leaves and sunlight. Once all the different chemicals of the leaf have been decomposed we are left with a brown dead leaf.

We walked around the woodland collecting as many different leaves as we could. It was amazing the variety of tree species that were present. This clearly helps increase the biodiversity of the woodland in general. The abundance of wildlife was very visible. It was certainly helped by the warm sunshine as there were lots of insects: hornets, hoverflies, bees and a total of 4 species of butterflies. We also had a very close encounter with a Roe Deer. However, as I went to take a photo I disturbed it and it ran off into the undergrowth, maybe next time.

Comma

Our Collection of Leaves

Some Autumn Craft

Looking and Photoing Fungi

Mushrooms

Blackberry Picking

It was the last day of the summer holidays and we needed an outdoor activity to occupy us for the day. The previous few day had been quite wet and unpleasant so we had a little bit of cabin fever. So with the hope of some sun we decided to go for a walk around Cherry Orchard and do some blackberry picking.

Picking Blackberries

Loads of Blackberries about

Picking Blackberries is something that really marks the changing of seasons for me. It is a clear devision between summer and the start of Autumn. I love that change. The damp foggy morning and woodland walks looking for fungi. However, for us the sun shone and it started to feel quite warm, perhaps there is still a little left in summer. Indeed as we were picking I could not resist a little time birding in the area. There were Chiffchaff's, Swallows, Martins, Lesser and Common Whitethroats and Blackcaps about. Definitely a summer feel about the day.

Speckled Wood

Hoverfly

Blackberries form on a plant known as Rubus fruticosus, or more commonly known as bramble. As we were picking the blackberries at different locations around the reserve we really started to notice the difference between the plants in the different areas. It was clear that there were different sub-species of blackberry. You could tell the difference in lots of ways between the different types. For instance some had much bigger and sharper thorns. There were slight differences in the leaves and the size and taste of the berries. The ability to form such sub-species comes from some very interesting biology. Like many plants they are polyploidy. This means that an individual could have a greater number of chromosomes than you would expect. In addition, they reproduce both sexually and asexually. As a result of this they can easily form several sub-species with minor variations. Fascinating stuff.

It got messy, really messy!!!

Blackberries are very important plants and I love having them around. They provide vital homes for many species of bird, small mammal, such as dormouse and incest. The leaves are eaten by the caterpillars of Holly blue, which are seen in good numbers in the Cherry Orchard Nature Reserve. The flowers are also a good nectar source and whilst we were out we could see a few flowers still present so they provide that all important nectar for many months.

Still Some Flowers About

All Stages of the Blackberry Development

With our blackberries we took them home and made some jam. It was a spiced jam and included cinnamon, cloves and star anise. The blackberry is a very nutritional food source and they contain vitamin C, omega-3 and omega-6, protein and if you have eaten them and had the pleasure of getting the pips stuck in your teeth you will not be surprised to know they contain lots of fibre.

Our Blackberry Pickings

Blackberry Jam

My only advice to people picking them is check it is ok to do so, lots of nature reserves do not like them picked. And secondly leave lots for the birds and other animals. 

Here is an additional blog about blackberry picking. 

Ragwort

City Wildlife in France

For the last three weeks I have been in France on holiday. It was a family holiday, however, wildlife did play an important role in many of our activities. This included walks in the Vogues Hills and visiting the Camargue Nature Reserve in Provance.

Loire at Nevers

River walk in Nevers

 The purpose of this blog is to document the wildlife in an around the City of Worcester. However, I was really impressed by a few of the places we visited in France and felt it was worth a mention in this Blog. The cities of Nevers and Bourges really stood out as wildlife friendly and we had a lot of fun as a family exploring the wildlife contained within them, hence photo contributions are from the whole family. 

Scarlet Darter

Firebugs

The city of Nevers, in central France, is located on the banks of the River Loire. The built up area of the city goes right up the the river side. Despite that there was an abundance of wildlife. We walked along the river side walk for approximately 2 hours and spotted just under 40 species of bird (including Grey Herons, Kingfishers, Grey Wagtails, Little Egrets, Common Terns, Sandpipers, Bee Eaters, Hoopoe and a Golden Oriole). And perhaps 20 species of butterfly (our French butterfly identification skills are not that great!!!!).

Second Generation Map Butterfly??

Doing a bit of Birding

Map Butterfly (I Think)

There was also evidence of plenty of mammal life. Mainly rodents and foxes, but my wife, while trying to photograph, Bee Eaters, had an encounter with a Red Squirrel, it came out of the bushes and sat within 30cm, however, it ran for cover before she could turn around and take a photo. In addition, the river does have healthy populations of beavers, although not seen by us. They are really important ecosystem engineers and their presence will certainly help increase the diversity seen along the river.

Bee Eater

Bank Where Several Bee Eaters were Nesting

Two Bee Eaters

What helps make the river so good for wildlife is that the water levels are constantly changing throughout the year from high in winter to low in summer. In the summer time there are islands and sandbanks that can not be used for human activities. They are left to go wild and nature takes full advantage. The mud and sand banks provide plenty of opportunities for waders, we saw tens of Common and Green Sandpipers.

Sand Banks

Wild Flower on Sand Bank

Nettles Providing a Good Resource for Butterflies 

The river was teaming with fish. It is claimed that the river contains all the fresh water fish species that are native to France, including 100,000 Salmon spawning each year. Looking in from the bank it was clear that there were plenty of fish for the Kingfishers, Little Egrets, Herons etc. Some say that the Loire is the last wild river in Western Europe. A grand title but walking along its banks within the city of Nevers it felt that way. It felt great see such diversity and wildlife.

Little Egret Doing Some Fishing

Praying Mantis

The City of Bourges was also a wild life hot spot. The City has an area called the marshes. This is a network of canals that weave around what can be best described as allotment gardens. We walked around them for a few hours on a hot day and were entertained by the diversity of wildlife. There were willow warblers, little grebes, herons, several species of Butterfly, dragonfly and damsel flies. The area was originally part of the cities defences now it is used for gardening and wildlife.

Bouges Cathedral From the Marshes

Little Grebe

These two walks clearly show that our cities contain an abundance of wildlife. Whilst ours do not contain impressive species such as bee eaters they do have things of interest. Often we can find more species in our gardens and parks than in some more wild areas. It is important to get out and take a look you never know what you might find. 

Banded Demoiselle

Coot