#39 - Acorns

This was my three year old's idea - I was trying to coax the once-white dog into the river to wash off all the orange clay and she was busily picking up lime green acorns and arranging them into a semi-circle. "Oh look," I exclaimed, coming up the bank, "you're making a circle!" I was wrong apparently, "It's a acorn rainbow," she corrected me. 

#38 - Common Ivy

We noticed this ivy in the hedge because of its flowers - it was flourishing, the leaves beautifully glossy and exuberant. The children and I collected a few of the leaves and I noticed that they all had a slight twist so they wouldn't lie flat but curled together like a rosette.

#37 - Sweet Chestnut Burrs in Clay

These feel as spiky as they look. Ouch. But doesn't that green sing against the orange clay!

#36 - Fairies in Mud

When we were children we always called these thistle seeds, 'fairies', now I have passed this deeply unscientific habit on to my children. I have been trying to think of a way to photograph them for a while, this little pool of mud, with a polish of clear water on top, seemed a perfect place to throw a handful. The seeds seem to glow ethereally against the matte background of the sediment at the bottom of the pool.

#35 - Grass Through a Beech Leaf

There is something wonderful about the way light comes through leaves but I think beech leaves are particularly beautiful. 

#34 - River Stones

I have found a new favourite place - a stream covered with trembling reflections of trees, with a bed of smooth, water-worn stones. This picture was so much fun to make, I've always wondered why my son picks up stones all the time but it is rather addictive, I was so engrossed I accidentally squatted down in the water and got more wet than I'd planned. Oops. I took this photo from all angles but this one is the one that shows the tiny point of contact between the stones.

#33 - Beechnuts

This Autumn is just so emphatically Autumnal. I can't believe I've never really liked this Season - I associate it with the nights drawing in but the clocks haven't changed yet so I am loving the sunshine and the trees and hedgerows which are bursting with life. Blackberries - scarlet and purple, dusky blue sloes, gleaming hawthorn berries, crimson and orange rosehips, everything is gorgeous. These beechnuts looked so bold in the afternoon sun, their rusty yellow cases glowing gold against the beech's glossy, dark green leaves.

#32 - Great Plantain

Saw these tall, elegant spires in the meadow grass the other day, all from one plant but five different shades. They were so beautiful I wondered if they were some rare species, apparently not, just a common wild plant. Rather lovely though. 

#31 - Crab Apple Leaves

I've found a tree with round leaves - how fun is that! Ooh, I could play with round leaves all day, making pictures, circles on circles, polka dots... the children had to drag me away, "Muuuuummmyyy, come ONNN!" "But I'm still playing. I don't want to go home and cook tea!" *Pouty face* I'm calling it a crab apple tree but I'm not totally sure, it has small, bitter, appley-peary like fruit on it. And round leaves - did I mention that?

#30 - Ghosts of Leaves

A tree with white leaves! It's a Silver Poplar apparently. So beautiful!

#29 - Dock Shadows

I had an idea about contrasting the dark brown, dried up stems of dock on the vibrant green leaves. Twenty nine days into this blog and I'm starting to see everything differently  -  but I wasn't expecting the shadows the seed heads cast onto the leaf.

#28 - Dock Weed flowers

I've never really looked at Dock Weed before. I grew up applying them to nettle stings and I have noticed the ugly, dark brown seed heads once the leaves have died, but my daughter picked a stem the other day and I discovered these lovely heart-shaped flowers in a reddish, rusty colour.

#27 - Rose hips

This pattern was surprisingly tricky to make, I discovered that rose hips are very roly. In the end I had to dip them in mud so they would stay still long enough. I'd just taken the picture when the dog ran up and moved them all with her nose. 

#26 - Conifer

The boy, the dog and I were caught in a rain-storm yesterday so took shelter under a huge conifer, it was completely dry under the dense canopy. Staring at the underside of the boughs my eye was drawn to the rusty gold colour intermingling with shades of green. Another au naturel picture - I love the subtle, faded look of the colours in the dust.

#25 - Seed capsules

I just discovered that Rosebay Willowherb is called Fireweed in America because it frequently grows where the land has been burnt - apparently it became widespread in Britain after the war, appearing in bomb craters and burnt out buildings. The name suits the leaves which burst into glorious flames as the flower dies. Before that though the plant is very demure, I especially love the delicate shades of pink and mauve on the long seed capsules, I couldn't actually edit this photo at all as any adjustment seemed to change the colours from their subtle gradations, so it is exactly as I took it.

#24 - Lines

Went back to the woods to play without the children - enjoyed it so much I have decided to scrap teaching them to read and write, on fine days we'll just come up here! Only joking. But we will come up here as much as we can, it's a bit of a walk but the beauty of homeschooling means long, quiet days doing what we want with no schedules to worry about. At least when the children are there I have an excuse if we bump into other dog walkers for any eccentric behaviour. Yesterday, I was crouched down in the dirt arranging my sticks when two other rather handsome dog walkers appeared out of the trees and looked at me askance. So that was awkward,and also amusing - after they'd gone.

#23 - Mossy Stones

We have discovered a wonderfully mossy woods on our Birmingham dogwalks. Had fun yesterday playing with these stones.

#22 - Fireworks

Really can't think of these Rosebay Willowherb leaves as dying, more like going out in a blaze of glory. I love the way they curl out - as the seedpods burst open it seems the whole plant explodes, turning from it's humble mauve and green into a froth of pale cotton wisps and these glorious colours, like fireworks.

#21 - Trailing Brambles

I was trying to find a sheltered place  to photograph some leaves the day before yesterday, as the wind kept whisking them off just when I had them arranged, and I came across a little mossy nook covered with trailing brambles, their crimson stalks tangling over the green floor. Went back to photograph them yesterday which was a rainy day but I think I like the contrast of the wet, glossy stems on the matt bed of moss. 

#20 - Pink Edges

As the season turns, pink is whispering up the edges of the blackberry leaves. Leaves die so beautifully.

#19 - Hearts in Sunlight

Mmm, love this image. I found a wonderful red heart leaf (from a plant which deserves the name Morning Glory but which I call bindweed when it's in my garden) and was looking for a place to photograph it. Saw a convenient flat stone which I didn't realise was slanted enough to lift the leaf to catch the low afternoon sun. Serendipity.

#18 - Pauses between leaves

Yesterday I read something the pianist Arthur Rubinstein said - "The notes I play like every other pianist. But the pauses, ahhh, the pauses..." I think that's why these beautiful pale-gold leaves caught my eye, it was not what they were saying but the shapes they made around themselves, their negative qualities. 

#17 - Yellow Lichen

In entitling this blog as I have, I feel that I have made a bet with myself - can I really find something beautiful at the park 365 times? It is a big city park but has nothing extraordinary in it, nothing exotic or unusual, just hedgerows and open meadows. There still seems to be plenty that makes me stop and stare - the colour of this yellow lichen is so exuberant and unapologetic. Yesterday, as we prowled for beauty behind the dog, my oldest daughter exclaimed joyfully, "I used to think we lived in such a dull place!"

#16 - Thistleheads on Moss

Love these thistleheads soooo much! This mossy rock now looks like something from Monsters Inc. or maybe one of those strange creatures found on the sea-bed that nobody knew existed. Or maybe some wildly retro fur coat. Actually can't help smiling at this and the thought of other walkers coming across my funky rock in the wood and doing a double take. It's a small thing but it pleases me.

#15 - Hats off!

Love these little acorn cups which are crunching underfoot at this time of year - all the subtle shades of green and brown...

#14 - Hawthorn berries

Have been eyeing up the hawthorn berries for some time, just trying to find the perfect backdrop for them and when I saw this log by the park entrance I knew they'd look gorgeous together.

#13 - Elderberries

Love the pink of the ripening elderberries...

#12 - Seeds

I never thought such words would pass  the lips of this country girl but - I am enjoying exploring the city. Suburban Birmingham is proving to be much lovelier than I had hitherto suspected. Walking further afield with the dog the other day, I passed a very tempting looking path of blue stones  leading away into woodland and around a corner, I almost abandoned my intended route just to see where it went. Revisited a couple of days ago and ventured up it, half expecting it to end at garages or allotments, but it did not disappoint. I was looking at some translucent seed heads, admiring their silvery sheen and faint markings when one fell apart in my hands. The pale green cases look perfect against the blue path.

#11 - Sprinkles

My littlest daughter likes to talk, a lot. I'm not sure where she got this verbosity from (ahem *sheepish look*) but thankfully, she mostly doesn't need replies and is happy to chatter away regardless of whether you respond or not. Yesterday as we headed down to the park I heard her say something like, "ooh, lots of sprinkles over there". As I was impressed with the 'Sparkles' she saw in the hedge the other day, I stopped and asked her where the Sprinkles were. And there they were, right next to us, only I think she might have meant, 'Prickles'.

#10 - Sparkles

As I was hurrying my three year old through a band of trees that surround our local common, I noticed with distaste how dark it was in the trees and how someone had tipped a pile of rubble nearby. We were almost out of there when my daughter said, conversationally, “It’s very sparkly in here isn't it.” I was so surprised that I stopped walking and asked, “Where, where is it sparkly?”. “There,” she gestured, pointing to the side of the path where there was a thicket of dead weeds that had dried over the summer and been crushed partially down. I looked and then I noticed that the dry stems had paled and now did glow whitely against the damp, dark earth under the trees. Then I saw that the flowerheads of the weeds had died and hardened into their floret shapes which now looked like stars, circles of stars - there were indeed ‘sparkles’ inside that ugly hedge.