Autumn in North West England

 

To make it easier to know when to see the colours at their best our foresters our keeping the links below regularly updated with forests given a rating from 'still green' to 'turned golden', the latter indicating colours at their peak so you can enjoy the woods at their brilliant best.

• Delamere Forest Park near Chester
• Grizedale Forest Park near Ambleside
• Whinlatter Forest Park near Keswick
• Horrocks Wood near Astley Bridge, Bolton
• Viridor Wood near Abram, Wigton
• Miterdale Forest near Egremont
• Ennerdale Forest near Cleator Moor
• Giggle Alley near Eskdale Green 

The colour rating is updated weekly so you can't miss out on this years greatest natural display of colour

To see the progress of Autumn across the UK visit our  Autumn Colours Map.

Why Do leaves change Colour?

The answer lies in a natural food factory - check out the fascinating science below 

• moisture that contains valuable nutrients and minerals is sucked out of the soil by the roots and passed up through the tree into the leaves
• they mix with air and are converted into sugars and starches (tree food) that are absorbed by the tree to make it grow
• the energy needed for this process comes from the sun. Sunlight is trapped in a leaf by a green pigment called chlorophyll. It’s chlorophyll that gives leaves their green colour in spring and summer
• when the days grow short and night time temperatures fall, the tree realises that autumn and winter are coming. Most trees do not grow in autumn and winter, so there is no need for food and the ‘food factory’ closes down
• the chlorophyll left in the leaf is not needed and starts to decompose. That means the other pigments from the sugars and starches start to show - and they’re the golds and reds that we know as autumn.