The countryside is looking very different from what it was this time last week. Wind and rain have devastated the autumn foliage and the leaves lie thick on the grass and in the gutters.
However, where leaves remain on the trees there is still plenty of colour to be seen. Birch trees are silver and gold with their bark shining through the last, fluttering leaves. The ornamental, almond-shaped hornbeam trees that grow in parks are like yellow flames, although the larger hornbeams are much denuded. Plane trees are like great towers of intermingled shades. Many oak trees are still quite green, and will not now make their contribution to the spectacle until early in December. Then they will glow with a soft purple tint in the low sun.
Hawthorn hedges are usually among the most beautiful sights of autumn, but this year many of them have just faded, rather than passing through a glorious moment of scarlet, purple and yellow. Horse chestnut trees and many lime trees are bare. Their gaunt, black limbs are reminders that winter is now not so far away.
DJM