Early autumn in a Scowles woodland.

Autumnal colour in woodlands is a personal highlight in the landscape photography calendar and it usually heralds an invigorated jet stream lining up vigorous weather systems at the UK, sigh. So it was with some relief that a calm weather forecast coincided with beech leaves starting to change colour and a trip was made to a scowles woodland in the Forest of Dean. The woodland canopy is dominated by beech with yew dominating the understorey and occasional ash, holly, hazel, wych elm, whitebeam and lime. Beech trees in the ancient woodlands I am familiar with, rarely synchronise their autumnal colour. Instead it's a gradual roll out with a spectrum of hues from green to fiery orange/red and corresponding leaf fall punctuated by heavy falls in stormy weather. The colour hues shifting from greens to full autumn colour as the days shorten and nights lengthen.

On this visit there was enough early leaf fall to enliven the floor and enough leaves remaining to maintain a closed canopy and include some of the tree crowns in a composition. Some light rainfall had wetted surfaces to saturate colours and overhead cloud provided diffuse lighting. More importantly there was almost negligible wind as the composition hinges upon the lack of movement during a long exposure.  Suffice to type that I was satisfied with the photographic reward.