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If you love autumn colours, one of the best places
to look is Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire. It's
one of the top spots in the British Isles for lovers of trees and plants | Autumn
glory at Westonbirt.
Image - Westonbirt Arboretum. |
Autumn is the best time to see Westonbirt in its full glory for what the Arboretum
calls a "spectacular show of shapes, patterns and colours".
Amongst
the many signature trees at Westonbirt are Japanese Maple, Paperback Maple, Incense
Cedar, Beech, Tulip Tree and Horse Chestnut. Beautiful
colours  In
the 1820's a wealthy Englishman, Robert Holford, began planting trees on open
farmland at his Gloucestershire retreat.
It was the start of a passion that
was to consume both him, and later his son, as they strove to create an arboretum
to rival the best in the country. Trees were brought to the arboretum by
Robert Holford's son in the 1870's and some of the specimens are his original
imports from Japan, making them well over 100 years old. Their extraordinary
colour comes from having a much greater amount of the carotid and xanythill pigments
than our native trees. The Holford family used to come to Westonbirt to
celebrate their collection by having "colour parties", picnicking in
the last of the autumn sunshine. The results of this passion is what is
considered as to be one of the finest tree collections in the world with over
350 000 visitors a year flooding through the gates to explore its 600 acres. The
blaze of colours comes from an international display of trees.
Westonbirt
has the British Isles' most important collection of Japanese Maples. Woodland
life  As
well as the glorious display of autumn russets, browns, reds and yellows, it's
worth casting your eyes high above the tree canopy on any visit to Westonbirt.
There aren't many places in Britain where you can get so close to wild
birds. One clever hide has one way glass, so the birds feeding have no
idea people are watching them. As autumn sets in the birds will be changing
their food source from insects to seeds and these feeders will start to get very
busy. Amongst the many autumn birds to be spotted are Blue Tits, Great
Tits, Coal Tits, Marsh Tits, Green Finches, Nuthatch and the Great Spotted Woodpecker. As
you wander around Westonbirt you'll also notice a number of spectacular wooden
sculptures. Fungi fantasy  Shaggy
Ink Cap, Puffball, Amethyst Deceiver, Fly Agaric, Weeping bolette, Velvette Brittlegill
are just some of the evocatively named fungi to be found at Westonbirt.
The
arboretum boasts over a thousand species - and autumn is the best time of year
to see them. But beware - don't eat the fungi because some species are dangerous. Photo
credits  Westonbirt
images courtesy and copyright of Image - Westonbirt Arboretum.
The Fly
Agaric image is 大象传媒 copyright.
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