Undoubtedly one of the best-known first lines in English poetry, “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” was written by John Keats on this day nearly 200 years ago in his ode To Autumn. The poem was said by him to be inspired by a walk in the water meadows behind Winchester College near his home.
Here on Dartmoor, Autumn seems to manifest itself in different ways depending on whereabouts you are on the Moor. This year a lot of leaves started being lost in mid-August due to the stress caused by the extreme dry weather over the summer, although rainfall in summer seemed to halt the process and even begin to reverse it, with some trees sprouting new leaf buds by early October.
But now it is mid-October and in the last couple of days a lot of leaves have suddenl turned to various shades of yellow through golden-orange to brown, although not many have yet fallen.
The photograph at the top appeals to me because of then many autumnal shades. I had just come out of an appointment at the Health Clinic in Moretonhampstead and was taking a short-cut across the old cottage hospital car park, when I spotted these rich autumnal hues in the light mist, so I rushed home to come back with my camera some 20 minutes later to catch the light. I like the darker shadows in this image – one could argue that it is ever so slightly under-exposed – I feel that the shadows add to the gloominess of the end of the growing season and general abandonment on the allotments and the onset of Autumn and the forthcoming Winter.
Additionally the shadows add a degree of mystery, enticing the viewer into the image to explore the mysteries without it being too foreboding.
The image of the stepping stones was taken on one of my early morning forays down to the river from our cottage a couple of hundred yards up the lane. Water levels were high following rain, there had been a light overnight frost, and the morning sunlight was rapidly thawing the frost. The crepuscular rays of sunlight were what really caught my attention though, adding an aura of intrigue to the scene.
One knows that Autumn has arrived when one sees the early leaf fall beginning to build up on the stepping stones across the river at North Bovey, delicately balanced despite the turbulent chaotic currents. Gradually the accumulation builds up leaf by leaf, until either it becomes unstable and collapses, or fresh rain brings a rise in water levels and washes the accumulation away, to perhaps maybe become part of another leaf structure further downriver.
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