Autumn in the Urban Forest. The Great Wood of Glasgow.

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Well folks, it's that time of year again. Autumn. With light winds and no major storms rolling in off the North Atlantic yet, often name checked as one of the most turbulent oceans in the world, this year it seems to be lasting well into November with many areas still hanging onto a full canopy of leaves. I have been out and about- sometimes alone-sometimes with my local muse 'Belle' or 'Tink' or 'That Witch in the Woods' (she has many names, bless her) and sometimes with more conventional friends. I didn't need to travel far as her area is the best for autumn colours and different varieties of trees.

  It's not surprising I met her in sylvan ways and we teamed up, instinctively drawn together, as I was a child of the great urban forest myself, growing up on a tough council estate- Nitshill in Pollok, but at the same time living deep within the largest mature deciduous forest in Scotland. Some might think the natural place for wild forests would be in the Scottish Highlands or Southern Uplands but it's not. Most of the trees there have been stripped out in the distant past replaced by mono-culture dark plantations of fir or pine which attract little wildlife beyond the outer edges and the natural regenerating woodlands have long been held in check by sheep, grouse moors or deer.

Instead a vast patchwork quilt of scattered woodlands and parks in the cities and towns, especially Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee, provide a glimpse of what lowland Scotland must have looked like in the past.

This is one of the reasons I was comparing the Lake District (and Wales) with mountain Scotland in the last few posts as I noticed the difference straight away in all three landscapes when I first started going down there. The Scottish Highlands may be wild, scenic and empty but both these other mountain areas mentioned seem to have retained their deciduous woodlands far better, or have planted more, and look very different as a result. You notice that when it rains as natural shelter is never far away down south... even in mountain regions. Trees add a huge amount to any walk, especially deciduous woodlands.

Of course in parks you have a mixture of trees gathered from every corner of the globe by Victorian collectors - a practice frowned on now, but it does make for spectacular landscapes. From Gourock in the west to Airdrie and Carluke in the east the urban forest sprawls, admittedly not unbroken, but certainly vast in size and for the most part deciduous. (ie. the leaves drop every autumn) It's one of the reasons I like living in a city, as although I like the Highlands and mountain areas they are bare and pretty lifeless places by comparison... or so I think anyway. I've always loved my urban jungle of trees and from many parts of Glasgow looking out over the city (Bellahouston Park hill looking towards Pollok, Barrhead, and the South Side springs to mind) all you really see is a continuous belt of woodlands stretching to the far horizon with only an occasional hi- rise or tenement rooftop sticking out to remind you that humans live within it at all.

I didn't think this way years ago of course and it's taken me decades to form this viewpoint, reading and understanding history, social trends in landscape engineering and picking up information here and there but I believe it's a valid one. When I was young I wasn't interested in all that- I just loved woods and all the usual things that children of my generation who lived outdoors when not in school enjoyed. Climbing trees, collecting berries, fruit, nuts and conkers in season, building dens, and generally having a good time outdoors without computers, any technology, or adults. We now live in a news, media, information and gadget saturated age but back then the TV was six inches square, black and white, and usually grainy and hard to watch with a small aerial indoors that often required frequent adjustment to get any picture at all. Not worth staying in for if dry weather outside. Newspapers were only of interest to us for the cartoon page. Innocent times in many ways but we did have our dragons like every other age. The threat of pedophiles probably existed but they never frequented our woods much and any adults were either given a wild berth when seen or chatted to happily if known. Being half feral anyway as kids few folk could creep up on us... usually it was the other way around...just like the natural caution the rest of the woodland animals and birds showed towards any humans that came into the forest. Suspicion or fear didn't enter our thoughts very often but when they did it was usually easily understood and not the vague shadowy menace always lurking in the background it is now- like a friend getting beat up by a drunk parent a few times, someone getting injured outdoors falling or landing poorly or the risk of drowning in the many flooded quarries nearby. Stuff we understood and just accepted as part of life. On the plus side pedophiles would also be given a good kicking, maybe even killed by other adults, if caught... which tended to put them off as they didn't seem as numerous as they are today although punishing innocent strangers was always a possibility.

A spotty dog. Maybe escaped from 'The Woodentops.  ' Remember them?

Back in the present I still love trees and even have favourite ones I treat as trusted old friends, many of which should still be around long after I'm fertilizing the roots of others.

Capturing the best of the autumn colours is a yearly occupation now and I always think I can do better each time. Good motivation to get out there and explore.

A rare selfie.

This year I stayed mainly local for this gallery which allowed me to photograph in a range of different lighting conditions- full mid- day bright sunlight, as here,above - late evening sunshine, like the photo below-

and in overcast dull conditions.

A double rainbow.

On the brae.

On golden paths we travel...

to experience the joy of deciduous woodlands...

with sweet witch I wept the last...

to think how easily this could all end...

Do you believe in climate change children?

If so... clap your hands...          **** the fairies. How we deal with that now and in the near future is far more important.



No wonder we spent all our free time outdoors. Dodging older kids aiming air rifles at you, occasional gang fights and the usual falling out among friends was much more fun than watching TV back then. Enjoy. Funny how this seems brilliant now ! Didn't think that back then though :o) Andy Pandy probably put me off. A puppet Jimmy Savile and slightly dodgy even then.