Conkers

About this time last year I wrote a post about the abundance of conkers on the horse chestnut trees in London. I ascribed the heavy crop to the wet summer that we had in 2008 allowing the trees to maintain and nourish their fruit. As I said back then, London is a very green city, and like last year we have had to endure a pretty wet summer this year, so conditions have been very similar for the development of fruit on the trees.

Unlike last year, I now tend to have a camera in my handbag at all times so that I can take photographs as the whim arises. As autumn takes the place of summer, the leaves on the trees are starting to change colour and shrivel and die. This means that yesterday I was able to take a photograph of some of the conkers on one of the horse chestnut trees nearest my home without them being masked by the trees magnificent leaves.Each of the three fruit visible was approximately two inches in diameter, and the one that is in the process of splitting its skin to reveal the shiny conker within shows that the skin is not too thick which means that the conkers will be of a fair size.

Oh yes, autumn can be a beautiful time of year.