By their colours ye shall know them.

Christmas approaches, but still the colours of autumn linger on. They have been truly magnificent this year , beginning in early September with the horsechestnut trees. Bit by bit the other trees in the vicinity started to colour up, each species in its own unique way. The plane trees by the sides of the roads turned a russet brown, while in the forest we spotted that the montpellier maple, a small leafed acer tree, was turning crimson. Who would have thought there were so many. They stood out like beacons on a foggy road. Then the larger leafed acer trees began to turn yellow , but this year instead of rapidly dropping all their leaves, they have remained partially clothed in yellow, with a soft broad leafed carpet at their base, where brambles and dogwood turn a deep magenta. But what about the deciduous oaks ? For weeks they remained fresh and green , as if they were resisting the call of winter. Then one by one they began to turn, from green to bright yellow . When the sun filtered through their branches the leaves shone like golden pennies. Slowly the yellow leaves turned to gold, and finally they will turn a deep dark brown. The plane trees have dropped their leaves now and our roads are framed by their bare spindly branches. But the oak trees are stubbornly refusing to drop their leaves, and still fill the forest with gold. Little by little their leaves will continue to fall , the last ones clinging to the trees until the first leaves of spring appear. It is only in the autumn, when looking up at the forest from below that we realise just how many different trees it holds nestled amongst the pines.