A very wet start to the day, with a total of 8.2mm of rain last night and no sign of it stopping as I squelched my way around the Park.
A thick mist reduces trees and scrub to mysterious, looming silhouettes, with the park reduced to a circles of just a few hundred metres.
The gloomy conditions make the few splashes of colour leap out all the more brightly. The leaves of a Wild Cherry blaze in shades of bright red and orange, with it’s smooth, striped bark gleaming beneath a coat of raindrops. On the woodland floor, patches of Stinking Iris are covered with orange ‘starbursts’ of seeds, as it’s pods burst.
While many of the woodland paths are covered in drifts of fallen leaves, the dark ‘Holm Oak Avenue’ half way up is almost clear, as these evergreen Oaks shed their leaves throughout the year.
Near the Castle, Buddleia still has plenty of large, purple flowers, while here and there, vivid yellow Bristly Ox-tongue and Ragwort appear out of the mist.
Blackthorn leaves are turning a sulphurous yellow, with Old Man’s Beard twisted around the stems like coils of silvery smoke. Here and there, the berries of Hawthorn and Dog Rose add a splash of crimson.
As autumn draws on, other plants still in flower include the white, disc-like flowers of Wild Carrot and Yarrow, tiny pink Wild Thyme and yellow Fleabane flowers.
Unsurprisingly, bird-life is a little thin on the ground this morning! In the woodland, a Blackbird is poking around the Aviary lawn in search of breakfast, as a Dunnock shuffles among the Hazels which encircle the glade. Elsewhere in the woods, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Long Tailed-Tit are also out foraging.
In the meadows, a fine crop of Horse Mushrooms are in fruit in large scattered rings.
As I return to the Centre a Grey Squirrel scampers across the top of the Long Meadow gate, with superb agility!