Seasons by a Yorkshire river

I travel west from Leeds to Barrow-in-Furness quite often to visit my relatives there. On the way I usually stop at the pretty North Yorkshire village of Gargrave, near Skipton.

When I stop, I take a photograph of the river there because it always looks beautiful whatever the season.

Here are my last four photographs, all taken at different times of the year.

Which is which? One is early November, one is early December, one is mid-March and one is mid-May. Answers below - - -




The top one is mid-March, much as we might expect: early Spring, no leaves on the trees.

The second one is early December. All cold and misty, fair enough - - but lots of leaves on the trees still. What's that about deciduous trees losing their leaves in winter?

The third one is mid-May - lots of new green growth.

The fourth one is November, but nobody seems to have told the trees. The light looks slightly autumnal but the leaves on the trees are just beginning to consider turning slightly orange.

So there we have it! One Yorkshire village: global warming proved beyond a shadow of a doubt.

I remember when I was a child that one of the main ingredients of a good Bonfire Night bonfire on November 5th was a large heap of fallen leaves. Nowadays if you want leaves for Bonfire Night you'd have to climb the trees and rip them off.