A YEAR ago, inspired by the work of our extraordinary photographers, we set about documenting daily life in the Chilterns over the space of two months in autumn.
For 61 days between Halloween and New Year’s Day, diary entries recorded the changing sights, sounds and smells of the local landscape.
From frosty mornings to chilly nights, the daily forays provided an opportunity to take time to savour the small delights we so often take for granted: cobwebs glinting in the sunlight, fabulous fungi lurking in the leaf litter or glorious sunsets bathing the fields in pinks and purples.
Lazy rambles were a chance to listen out for rutting deer and hooting owls, contemplate the eyeshine of foxes or reflect on some favourite poetry about the natural world.
From fog over the heath to the “smoky smirr o rain” amid the trees, November is a time of mists and mirk, first frosts and chilly moonlit nights.
It’s a month of poppies and fireworks too, of peak leaf fall, the wonders of “leaf peeping” and the simple pleasure of wrapping up warm to guard against the plummeting temperatures.
It’s a perfect time for reflection about the outstanding natural beauty all around us, with the weathered brick and flint of ancient cottages, pubs and farmhouses providing a glorious backdrop for an autumn outing.
On these ancient paths, generations of invaders and settlers trudged across the Chilterns and built their castles, forts and palaces along the banks of the Thames.
Beneath our feet amid the fallen leaves are those miraculous glimpses of colour and texture which have such an intriguing story to tell about life on earth.
Fungi are everywhere around us, largely hidden from view and poorly understood despite providing a key to understanding the planet on which we live through their extraordinary symbiotic relationship with plants and trees.
As local villages light up to welcome the season of advent, out in the woods the trees come alive in the gleam of a supermoon, slowly, silently walking the night “in her silver shoon”, as Walter de la Mare so memorably captured in a book of children’s poems back in 1913.
“This way, and that, she peers, and sees / Silver fruit upon silver trees” he wrote, a suitably poetic reflection on the closing moments of a glorious November day and a reminder that it will not be too long before the rosy-fingered goddess Aurora will be rising from her marriage bed to bring daylight back to us mere mortals…
Day by day, November in the Chilterns includes a selection of pictures taken talented local photographers. If you would like to contribute any pictures, favourite moments or seasonal suggestions to our future calendar entries, join our Facebook group page or write to editor@thebeyonder.co.uk.
