Why autumn rewards a slower walk

By late September the woodland has changed its pace. The canopy thins, the light comes in low and golden, and the scent shifts from green and sappy to something earthier — damp leaf litter, bark, rain on moss. It is the best season to walk without a destination. Rather than striding towards a viewpoint, give yourself an hour in one wood and notice what has appeared since your last visit. Take a hand lens, a notebook and something dry to sit on, so you can get down to ground level without getting soaked through. Autumn is short: in many woods the peak lasts a fortnight, so go often rather than waiting for the perfect day.

Reading the turning leaves

Leaf colour becomes a useful identification tool once you know what each tree is meant to do.

• Oak turns rusty brown and often holds its leaves well into winter, particularly on younger trees.
• Beech glows copper and keeps its dead leaves on lower branches and hedges right through the cold months — a habit called marcescence.
• Birch goes clear, buttery yellow, usually the first tree in the wood to turn and often all at once.
• Ash is the odd one out, frequently dropping green or yellow-green leaves early. Blackened, withered shoots are ash dieback, now widespread.
• Field maple and wild cherry give the finest reds, especially on limestone soils.
• Larch, the exception among conifers, turns gold and drops its needles entirely.

Look at the ground as well as the canopy. Fallen leaves tell you what is above you long before you look up, and a single leaf with rounded lobes or silky hairs along the edge is a clue you can carry to the next tree along the path.

Fungi: the woodland's autumn event

From September to November, fungi take over the wood, and you do not need to name them to enjoy them. A few you are likely to meet:

• Fly agaric, the storybook red cap with white spots, pushing up through birch and pine.
• Amethyst deceiver, small and vivid purple, almost always in beech leaf litter.
• Bracket fungi stepping up the side of a dead trunk, sometimes with years of growth rings visible.
• Sulphur tuft, bright yellow-orange in dense clumps on stumps and buried wood.

Then a word on manners. Many woodlands, reserves and Sites of Special Scientific Interest ask visitors to leave fungi alone, and uprooting is never acceptable. If you do pick a single cap to identify later, do it only where you have permission, use an open basket rather than a plastic bag, and never kick or stamp on a fungus you cannot use — it is the fruiting body of an organism that may be decades old and spread over many metres beneath your boots. And never eat anything you cannot identify with absolute certainty; several deadly British species closely resemble edible ones, and a photograph is no substitute for an expert.

Berries, mast and nuts

Autumn is the wood's harvest, and it is worth knowing which years are generous. Oaks mast heavily every few autumns, so some years the ground is thick with acorns and others almost bare. Watch for haws along hedgerows, sloes on blackthorn — best after the first proper frost — and scarlet rowan berries that blackbirds strip within days. Holly berries appear only on female trees, and only if a male is nearby.

Beech mast and sweet chestnuts are worth crouching for, but check before you pocket anything: small neat holes mean weevil grubs, and a nibbled hazelnut shell with the tooth marks of a wood mouse or squirrel tells a better story than a clean one. Leave plenty behind. This crop feeds jays, mice, deer and next spring's fledglings.

Small signs worth crouching for

Drop your gaze and the wood becomes a detective story. Spangle galls speckle oak leaves; squiggling leaf mines wander across holly and horse chestnut. Deer slots press into soft mud at path edges, and badger latrines sit in shallow scraped pits nearby. Under a favourite roost you may find owl pellets; in the canopy, a grey squirrel's drey of twigs and leaves. Fresh woodpecker holes, webs outlined in dew and bright candlesnuff fungus on rotting stumps all reward a slow ten minutes standing still. Sit down and wait. Most of what lives here will assume you have gone.

Walking well: a few respectful habits

Autumn walking is comfortable, but a little preparation goes a long way.

• Stay on paths where they exist, especially in wet weather — compressed edges and eroded banks damage roots and underground fungal networks.
• Check for ticks afterwards. They remain active in mild autumn weather, and long grass and bracken are prime habitat.
• Keep dogs close and under control near livestock and deer, and take bags home rather than hanging them on branches.
• Clean your boots before visiting another wood. Mud carries spores and pathogens such as Phytophthora, which has damaged larch and other species.
• Leave deadwood where it lies. It is habitat, not litter, and it is the single most valuable thing a woodland has.

Finally, time your walk for the golden hour. Low sun through thinning leaves turns a familiar path into something worth photographing, and the wood is at its quietest in the hour before dusk. Take only photographs, leave only footprints, and go back again next week — the wood will look entirely different.