October

By Peter Conway

October can seem like one of a cartoon character that runs off a cliff. Surely temperatures are going to fall and the leaves are going to turn soon? But October often shows no hurry on either counts. It can remain mild until late in the month and leaf fall usually doesn’t start to any degree till the very last week, if then. But it is definitely autumn all the same, with unsettled, rainy weather often dominating.

And of course, there is always the appalling shock of the clocks going back at the end of the month. Suddenly it is dark at 4pm and it is as if the shutters have come down for four long months.

WEATHER

October can have pleasant sunny days right up to the end of the month. Quite often there is a sunny day or two just before the end of the month when you are sat in shirtsleeves wondering if November can be just days away.

But despite this, the weather is also a lot less reliable – and cooler - in October than it is in September: it is above all changeable - a succession of Altantic lows with their relatively warm Gulf Stream air that keeps the temperatures relatively moderate. While in September rain never seems to take hold for long, in October it is the sunshine that always seems to be fleeting. If it is sunny in the morning, there is a good chance in October that it will be wet in the afternoon. It nearly always seems to be windy.

In this respect, October is a kind of sister to changeable March, though statistically with up to half as much rain again: In London, October is in fact the month with the second highest average rainfall (November being the rainiest, though August and July not far behind, surprisingly)

When clouds come, they are often not the fluffy white spring or September kind, but big and brooding. October can also be downright stormy - 16 October 1987 was the day of the Great Storm in South Eastern England, and a lesser one hit the same area on 27 October 2002. In 2004 a threatened storm towards the end of the month stayed over the West Country and then retreated: but in general October 2004 was a particularly windy and wet month.

During the month there is often at least one if not two fiercely wet Saturdays, with the third weekend being a prime candidate. The third week of October 2006, for example, saw a series of particularly intense lows, with heavy downpours, while 24 October 2009 was the first wet Saturday in twelve weeks.

Daytime temperatures in October can still reach into the mild upper teens, making you wonder if winter will ever come. It is not unusual for there to be a burst of such warmth quite late in the month – as in 2009, when low pressure brought winds up from Spain from the 23rd to the end of the month, giving highs of 19 degrees and night time temperatures of 13 degrees. 2005 and 2006 were even warmer, with temperatures remaining up to 20 degrees by day and 15 or 16 degrees at times by night until the very end of the month.

If the wind becomes more north westerly – as happened in the second half of October 2007 - temperatures can easily dip as low as 12 or 13 degrees, however. And either through more northerly winds, or as a result of clear skies under a temporary high, there are almost always a handful of really cold nights during the month, with temperatures down to 4 or 5 degrees.

One particularly cold October was 2008, which had more than the normal amount of high pressure, though interspersed with some intense lows and rain. Apart from a short period from the 8th to the 12th when the sun shone and temperatures reached a balmy 23 degrees, it never seemed particularly warm. Cold nights on 2 and 5 October seemed to set the leaves turning, and in the second half of the month a high pressure zone to the south west or west repeatedly brought northerly winds, which pushed temperatures down to 11-13 degrees by day and as low as freezing overnight. On 28 October, 4cm of snow fell (and settled for over 24 hours) in Hertfordshire and the outskirts of north London, while in central London there was sleet.

By contrast, in October 2003 high pressure resulted in a warm and sunny month with only two widely spaced days of rain, and 2005 was fine until the 18th, after which more normal wet weather set in.

When the sky is grey in October, it seems very gloomy indeed. Mid month sees the start of that winter half-light that has you putting the lights on in the middle of the day, and makes you feel melancholy and disinclined to venture out.

On the plus side, when the sun breaks through, it is low enough to produce lovely golden light when it is shining – or less usefully to shine directly into your eyes. By the end of the month, sunlight is taking on that mysterious low winter feel, but it still packs enough warmth for it to be nice to sit out in it. The sky is a deep blue, with the haziness of summer long gone. Visibility is excellent – a perfect time to see distant views.

The central heating often goes on at some point early in the month, though only really early in the morning is it vital. However, in 2004, 2005 and 2006 it was not necessary even at the end of the month.

Even if the weather is not that cold, it definitely feels autumnal. Summer seems an immeasurable distance away. Thicker jackets and woolly hats come out of the cupboard, but are not always needed, and sometimes positively superfluous. This is one of those times when you always seem to be bringing too much clothing or too little.

Sunset rushes back from 6.30pm to little after 5.30 pm during October, but for once barely notices: the days are not long, but they seem of reasonable length until the clocks go back. Perhaps the lateness of dawn is more noticeable – by the time the clocks go back it is getting light at 7.50 am.

However one tries to prepare, the clocks going back on the last weekend of the month always come as a horrible shock. It will now be dark little after 4pm for the next three months, and it will not be light as late as it was on the last Saturday of British Summer Time for four months. With the shorter days, big trips are off the agenda - one no longer ventures down to the coast for the day or to the South Downs, and the time when one did seems a long time ago.

Winter blues can start. Scientists reckon that from late October to March, the sun in the UK is not sufficient to give us all the Vitamin D we need. This might explain why rich foods suddenly start to see more attractive in October.

Colds seem to circle around you, or always be lurking in the back of your throat.

NATURE NOTES

• Autumn colours start, though are often not at their best till November
• Berries abound on bushes
• Birdsong increases slowly

For pictures of the trees mentioned here, see the photos to the right of this page. Put your cursor over any photo to see its caption. Plenty more photos are available on Flickr: simply click on any photo to see them: this also gives you a larger view of the photo. In addition Wikipedia has photos and more information about many plants.

One remembers October as a time of intense autumn colours, with all the trees yellow and gold. But in fact it is generally in early November that the trees turn en masse. At the end of October, the treescape can still be mainly green, as was the case in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006, for example.

That is not to say that leaf fall is not occuring in October. Some trees will show some patches of tint, and others turn earlier than the main mass – see The autumn sequence below. And nearly all trees slowly shed leaves green – that is without turning colour at all.

The slow shedding of leaves

The slow shedding of leaves by most trees is the invisible part of autumn leaf fall, and can start as early as late August. You may notice no tint on the leaves on the trees at all – just some dead leaves on the ground beneath the trees. Or you might see a few tinted leaves on the tree and think that it is about to change colour more generally – but it does not. Contrary to expectations, small patches of tinted leaves in September or early October are usually not a signal that the trees are due to turn colour more widely.

The triggers for more widespread colour

A more general turning of leaves rarely occurs before the very end of the October, though certain types of tree can turn before that - see The autumn sequence below. It is cold nights – say three or four degrees centigrade – that seems to set off this wider turning, though drought can also play a part. For similar reasons, exposed southern sides of trees can turn earlier than the rest of the tree, or than trees deeper into woods: the explanation is that the side of the tree more exposed to the sun suffers more moisture loss.

How quickly leaves turn after a couple of sudden cold nights depends on when they occur. If they are too early in October, some trees will turn but others will remain green. One moment it looks as if autumn is breaking out all over, but then the tinted leaves fall and the unturned ones stay on the tree, and so all looks green again.

An example of this was 2009, when cold nights around the 12th and 17th were interspersed with much milder weather. Some trees were caught out by each of the cold snaps and turned colour entirely, but others remained untouched. Leaf fall did not finally end till right at the end of November.

2008 also saw cold nights at the start of the month produce widespread autumn colours in the second week. In particular, ashes turned a fabulous yellow, and then largely lost their leaves by the third week. Some limes also turned, as did black poplars and sweet chestnuts. Yet after this early start, there was something of a hiatus for two weeks, however, and it was not till the last week of October when the remaining leaves started to turn.

If the cold nights come a bit later, they seem to have more of a shock effect on trees, however, sparking a mass turning of all the remaining leaves. It is this that produces the best autumn colours.

In 2007, for example, temperatures fell abruptly to as low as 4 degrees overnight on 17 October and the following nights, and generalised leaf colour followed about ten days later. In 2006, meanwhile, the trees remained very green until 14 November or so, when they suddenly all turned: again this was ten days after a couple of surprisingly sharp frosty nights on 4 and 5 November. In 2008 after the hesitant start described above, freezing temperatures (and some snow) on 28 October caused a mass turning of leaves in the first week of November.

In all three years, the mass turning of leaves came very quickly. Within four days from 27 to 31 October 2007, the entire treescape seemed to turn from green to yellow and gold. The colour also faded quickly. In 2006, many trees were quite bare just a week after a weekend of spectacular leaf colour on 15-16 November.

Windy days obviously help in this process, but are not essential for it. Nor will wind necessarily remove leaves that are not ready to fall. In 2009, November was characterised by very strong winds, but they didn’t help leaf fall along as much as one would expect. Quite a lot of foliage still remained by the third week of November, despite the early start to autumn tinting in October described above.

The causes of vibrant colours

Sudden cold, combined with drought seems to produce the best autumn colours. Warm, wet weather can lead to rather muddy tints. Sunshine by day also helps leaf colour (there are complicated chemical reasons for this), and the latter in the season that the cold shock is administered, the better the colours.

Certain trees do just produce better colours too. The golden leaves of beech are a famous example, and so are the glorious red-orange tints of wild cherry and (sometimes) hornbeam. Maples – particularly the exotic varieties in parks, but also our native field maple - are also famous for their yellow-golden tints, but sycamore (which is also a maple) is often disappointingly subdued. Limes, polars and ash can produce intense yellows but don’t always. The humble hawthorn and blackthorn bushes can sometimes also be a wonderful kaleidoscope of colours.

While different trees seem to turn different colours, in fact there is an established sequence to the tints produced. As observed above, quite a few trees shed their leaves while green. The next stage is for a paler green (ash), then yellow (limes, maples), followed by gold (beech) and either by a lovely reddish pink (cherry trees, and – surprisingly – some bramble leaves) or a rusty brown (oak).

Trees and bushes both tend to thin from the top down. At ground level, they might seem to have lots of foliage still, but seen en masse from a distance the tops look bare and wintry. It is often after seeing a wood from above that you realise that leaf fall is really getting into gear.

Notice that different trees tint in different ways. Many – hawthorn, birch, lime – will turn in a mottled effect – that is tinted leaves scattered among green ones. Others – maples, beeches – seem to turn in big patches (so a patch of tint and a patch of green). Hornbeam turns from the top or one side, so it looks frosted with colour. Hazel leaves are unusual in that they tint from the outside in – a rim of yellow that spreads towards the centre. Both field maple and sycamore leaves can be a pretty mixture of yellow and green areas.

Tree by tree – the autumn sequence

It is very difficult to pin down the order in which trees turn, as it can vary from tree to tree, place to place, and year to year. Nevertheless here is a list of trees roughly in the order they start to turn, with some approximate timings.

First there are the trees which shed their leaves green, or nearly green. Elder is an example – it loses leaves very slowly throughout October and November, and even into December.

Willows – particularly riverside and park varieties, but not weeping willows (see separate entry below) – also start to shed early. They can have a mottled effect, with a few partly tinted leaves, or just lose their leaves green. Some riverside willow varieties can be bare in early October (right at the start of the month in 2008, in the second week in 2009, at the end of the month in 2007). White willows hold on till around mid month, and some of them hold onto a few leaves – like a kind of souvenir of the summer – until late November.

Ash leaves can be found on the ground in the second half of October, but in many years the leaves fall without turning and take till the end of leaf fall to disapear completely. In cooler autumns, however, they can turn a wonderful yellow as early as mid month, losing their leaves soon after. In 2008, for example, most turned a vibrant yellow as early as the second week, and were bare by the third week. In 2009, the colours were not so intense, and the leaf fall more staggered, but most ashes were bare by the end of October.

Otherwise the first major tree to turn used to be the horse chestnut, producing lovely golden colours in the middle of October. But since 2006 these have fallen victim to a leaf mining bug that shrivels their foliage long before the leaves can turn. In 2009 there was some sign that the tree was beating the bug, however, with a few leaves surviving to turn gold in early October.

Sweet chestnut can be a substitute for the horse chestnut, producing wonderful early golds on its large leaves early in October 2008, but turning in the second half in 2006, 2007 and 2009, with some leaves lasting into November.

Also early to tint more generally are maples, with the more exotic ones in parks going first, and sycamore more slowly. Apart from sycamore, most maples ultimately turn a lovely vibrant yellow that shines out of the landscape. Field maple, our only native maple, which is often overlooked in hedgerows, suddenly seems to be everywhere at this time, its diminutive leaves beautifully patched with greens and yellows, and later turning a fine gold colour. Sycamore is more mixed, often producing muddy yellows and greens mixed with black blotches.

(Maples always show some tint right from the start of October, but were not fully turned until the last week of October in 2008, the first week of November in 2007, and the second week of November in 2006. 2009 saw tinting very varied, with some substantially tinted at the start of the month, and some leaves surviving till late November: the average date for full tint was around the third week of October, however. Field maples showed a similar pattern to other maples in 2009, but were not full tinted till the end of the month, and retained some golden leaves in places till the third week in November. Sycamores were not fully turned till the first week in November in 2008 and fourth week in November in 2006, but seemed to go earlier in 2009.)

By mid October hornbeams are also starting to go wonderful gold colour, later tinged with a blush of pink. (Tinting starts in the first or second week of October, but full colour was not achieved till the end of October in 2009, the first week of November in 2007 and 2008, or the second week of November in 2006). The pyramid-shaped ornamental varieties in suburban streets can last longer (eg some leaves surviving till mid November in 2009).

Throughout early October there are also several shrubs and trees that are shedding slowly, sometimes with mottled tints and sometimes less so. Hawthorn and blackthorn bushes are examples. In cold years their remaining leaves can turn yellow or gold towards the end of the month, but generally they remain mottled at best, and lose their leaves slowly. (In 2009 both were about half turned by mid October, and bare by the end of the month.) Note the way that blackthorn can have the entire range of leaf colour – from green to yellow to gold to pink – all on one bush. Notice also that as its leafs fall, the twigs left behind, which are soft and flexible in summer, harden into thorns.

Birch can show tint early in October, but shows the best colour late in the month., For most of its leaf fall it produces a wonderful mottled effect – some leaves green, some yellowy-gold, though all the remaining leaves become a wonderful gold shower towards the end (end October 2009). Typically a few golden leaves linger prettily till as late as the third week of November.

Another mid-ranking tree when it comes to leaf turning is the lime. It can turn a wonderful yellow, but is remarkably variable in its timing. In both 2008 and 2009 some limes were showing substantial tint in the second week, but others did not turn till the the third week of October in 2009 and the first week in November in 2007 and 2008. In 2006 they were a spectacular feature in the third week of November, and in 2009 some retained a few green leaves well into November, and all were not bare till the third week of that month.

Poplars can also turn a wonderful yellow (in the second week of October in 2008 and 2009) but the tall thin lombardy poplars tend to hold out till the end of the month and don’t show such vibrant colours: indeed their leaf fall is usually barely noticed.

Also a bit variable in the timing of its leaf turning – but very noticeable when it does – is the wild cherry (often found in city streets, but not to be confused with the ornamental park cherries which are cherry plums). Its leaves produce spectacular golds and pinks, and in a woodland absolutely shine out once turned. The effect comes towards the end of October usually (eg 2007, 2008 and 2009), but some tinted as early as the second week in 2009, and in 2006 not till mid November.

The real main event in autumn leaf fall is probably the beech, however. The transformation of these trees from yellow to a deep gold is perhaps our finest autumn spectacle, and is a pretty good marker for the start of the final, most colourful phase of leaf fall, when all remaining leaves tint. Beeches tend to turn very suddenly without much warning, and without much slow early leaf fall. This happened in the last week of October in 2008 and 2009, in the second week of November in 2007 and the third week of November in 2006. Beech hedges can retain brown leaves right through the winter.

Not surprisingly for the king of the forest, oak tends to be among the last trees to turn colour – usually a rusty brown, but with some initial golds - and can keep brown leaves on them long after all other trees are bare. They are often the last major splash of green holding out in the landscape, and like beeches, they turn suddenly, without much early tinting or leaf fall. (This happened in the first week of November in 2007. 2008 and 2009, but not till the third week in 2006 Strong winds removed all leaves by the end of November 2009).

By the time the oaks are thining, leaf fall is about over, but ash can sometimes hang on this late, and another hardy tree (or shrub) is hazel. It can tint early in October, but often remains mainly green (though thining slowly) until the very end of the leaf fall period. If it does tint it is nearly always mottled (ie green and yellow leaves mixed), with individual leaves turning yellow from the outside in. Fallen leaves often reveal next year’s catkin buds.

Late in the leaf fall process (eg early November in 2009) you can also find a lot of foliage still on the majestic London planes of our streets and parks. They turn in mottled effect and their enormous leaves – some as big as a soup late – make the city streets slippery. Like hazel they seem to keep green after other trees – but is this because they grow in warm city environments?

Other tough guys that hang on to the end include alder, whose leaves never turn, falling unnoticed towards the end of leaf fall (mid November in 2009). Alder are very easy to identify at this time, as they are the only trees with both cones and cakins. At this time you might also be surprised to see weeping willows still looking quite green. This seemingly delicate tree is in fact one of the first to put out leaves in spring (see March) and one of the last to drop them in autumn (not till the third week in 2009).

One last hardy tree, often overlooked, but a lovely gold when it finally turns, is the larch, the only needle-bearing tree to lose its leaves, which turns colour about when all the other autumn leaf fall is finished (third week in November in 2009).

Smaller stuff and berries

One change that goes unnoticed in October is that bushes, shrubs and other foliage are also slowly losing their leaves – bramble, for example, sheds leaves from its older shoots, though retaining them on new growth (some of its leaves turn a surprisingly vivid maroon). Nettles mostly die back too, though some hold on tenaciously. Bracken turns brown as the month progresses, while that bright red foliage you see on walls and fences early in the month is a climber – Virginia Creeper.

October is a good time to spot and identify berries. Holly berries shine bright during the month, and yew is also covered with pretty (though poisonous) red berries. In the hedgerows you can fun identifying shrubs by their berries – for example the large red hips of rose bushes, the strange pink berries of the spindle tree, or the black berries of buckthorn and dogwood.

As blackthorn loses its leaves its blue-black sloes are revealed: note that as the leaves fall away, its side twigs also turn into the sharp thorns that give the plant its name (once the blossom appears in spring, they turn back to soft twigs). Early in the month hawthorns are thick with red haws until they are stripped off by birds and squirrels. You also see strings of the red berries of the climber black bryony, which persist after its characteristic heart-shaped leaves have gone. In gardens and occasionally on waste ground, firethorn continues to sport clusters of bright orange berries.

The last of the flowers

Though they are supposed to have disappeared in September, early October can still support a remarkable range of flowers in sheltered spots – even in cool Octobers such as 2007. Every time you think you have seen the last flower of the year, you are surprised to discover another one merrily blooming away as if it was June – sometimes a whole great patch of them

One might say that the only flower that is “supposed” to be flowering at this time is the purple michelmas daisy, which is found particularly by railway tracks until around the third week in the month. Otherwise, the flowers one sees fall into two categories – late summer flowers that somehow survive long after they should have faded, and others which seem to have simply got the season wrong.

Among the survivors, there is that amazingly long-lasting daisy weed of arable field edges, mayweed, as well as other August flowers as field scabious, sheep’s bit, knapweed, ragwort, tansy, yarrow, spearmint, chicory and hogweed. A charming plant with minature daisy-like flowers with notched petals found by riversides is gallant soldier. Various tiny cranesbills can also be found in grassland.

Special mention on the survivor front has to go to the large white trumpets of bindweed, which can be going strong on verges well into the second half of October. One can see why this plant is such a persistent pest for gardeners, and the same goes for that invasive climber Japanese knotweed, which has masses of white flowers throughout October, though it is starting to weaken (if it ever does actually weaken) towards its end.

Other remarkable survivors belong to the confusing family of hawkweeds, hawksbeards and hawkits – all with dandelion-like flowers. Lesser hawkbit and smooth hawksbeard can certainly survive in grassland till quite late in October, and there is a tougher hawkweed – possibly either leafy hawkweed or hawkweed oxtongue – that even continue blithely flowering on verges and wasteground right into November. Bristly oxtongue is a more coastal flower of this ilk, and nipplewort is another of this family that can still be seen into October, as can the occasional member of the cress family.

Towards the start of the month, ivy bushes are still producing flowers, with their sickly-sweet scent attracting the last bees and flies, but by the end of the month their black berries are forming. Also noticeable in the hedgerow is travellers’ joy, the wild clematis climber whose seed has now turned fluffy giving it is winter name of old man’s beard.

In addition to all the above flowers, which might be said to be just about in season, you can see all sorts of others which seem to think it is early spring. Ones I have spotted over the years include rock rose, clover, majoram, white deadnettles, dandelions, ox-eye daisy, speedwell, alkanet, and even meadowsweet. The first half of the month is the usual time you see these portents and wonders, before cold nights teach them the error of their ways.

Robins and other birds

Birdsong is at a very low level in October, with birds busy feeding up on the remaining berries and insects. Robins are the only birds singing an organised song, but even their twittering seems to have lost its fervour a bit compared to September, when both males and females are busy re-establishing their territories.

Otherwise, there are the contact calls of sociable birds – odd cheeps and churrs and rattles that birds make to each other as they hop around the branches feeding. Thus families of blue tits squeak and rattle at each other, while goldfinches put out a sort of laughing tinkling. Single notes, or a single note repeated twice, could be a great tit, while greenfinches produce an an extraordinary range of notes, including a very characteristic wheeze.

The odd dunnock can also be found sitting on a hedge and emitting a thin tseep, and long-tailed tits make tiny high pitched sounds in their restless journey through the tree tops. There is still lots of foliage which makes these birds hard to spot, though as the month goes on this thins, and bushes with lots of berries can be a good place for birdspotting. A factor that confuses identification is that greenfinches, tits, treecreepers and nuthatches can all combine into mixed flocks as food becomes more scarce.

Another phenomenum that continues from late September into early October is that some birds break into an occasional unseasonal burst of their mating song. The author has certainly heard the see-saw of a great tit in early October, as well as the ponderous song of the chiffchaff, most of whom depart for Africa in October (a few overwinter here).

Other unseasonal birds that can be heard include the laugh of a green woodpecker, or even the occasional lark singing above fields. Near buildings – rural or urban - sparrows continue to cheep, as they do year round, and starlings flock together in increasingly large numbers – up to 25,000 were reported on Autumnwatch to be roosting on Brighton Pier in October 2009. On arable fields you also see big flocks of rooks.

The last migrant birds fly south, and others arrive from Scandinavia and Iceland, but the latter tend to be fairly unobtrusive. But look closely at thrushes feeding on hedgerows or farmland and you may find they have the characteristic red tint of a redwing, while yellow siskins can quietly feed in small groups on alder and birch trees.

The deer rut

Early October sees the climax of the deer rut that starts in mid September. A wonderful place to observe this is Richmond Park, where dominant red deer males gather harems of females (or rather the females gather round the male – it is they who choose where to be) and mate with them, while defending them against challengers. They mark their territory in many ways, the most noticeable of which is their load roar. Younger males who fancy their chances tend to linger just out of range of the dominant males, looking for a chance to challenge. Females can, and sometimes do, change their mind about the male they have chosen and just wander off.

Red deer are not a wild species in southern England, but fallow and roe deer also have ruts. If you are lucky enough to spot signs of them in the woods, keep your distance, however. The deer in Richmond Park also need to be treated with respect, but are obviously more used to being watched by humans.

Insects

The odd spider, snail, fly or bee can also survive well into October, depending on how warm the weather is (as noted above, the bees are likely to be found near ivy flowers). In 2005 some spiders and snails were still flourishing until the end of the third week of the month, for example, and damselflies or dragonflies can occasionally be seen early in the month.

Wet grass and mud

If the weather is wet, it is also is an excellent time for mushrooms and fungi (they like cool nights too, but are killed off by frost). Once the heavy rain starts, mud also becomes deep and prevalent on paths once more. Grass and station benches are drenched in dew in the mornings, and one stops feeling one can sit on the grass – though there are exceptions after a couple of dry days when one gingerly sits on a bag or coat.

Later in the month, even walking on the grass in the park becomes impossible, if you don’t want to mess up your shoes, though a series of dry days is still enough to harden the ground and paths somewhat.

Green shoots of winter wheat appear in some arable fields, giving them a cheerful springlike appearance.

© Peter Conway 2006 - updated 2007, 2008, 2009 • All Rights Reserved • From his South East of England Almanac