Autumn Transition

I couldn’t resist sharing this picture I took after lunch of a Norway Maple in St Joseph’s Square on Maynooth University Campus. I like the gradual transitions of colour from green to yellow and orange and red with height. Most of the other trees have lost most of their leaves already.

#NorwayMaple #StJosephSSquare

I went looking for fall colors ('ruska' in Finnish) today, but they are always a bit lackluster in Helsinki. Nothing like what you'd see further north. At least the local Norway maples try to impress us. As for other deciduous trees, they follow their own schedules. Some of them are still green whereas others have already shed most of their leaves. I wish they would all turn yellow simultaneously...

#fallcolors
#autumncolours
#norwaymaple
#acerplatanoides
#helsinki
#finland
#fall
#autumn
#october

The #Norwaymaple #Acer #platanoides is a native #tree of (Central) #Europe that spread northward after the last #IceAge along with mixed oak forests and is still commonly found in such #treecommunities today. Like all #trees, it offers #habitats for numerous organisms, forming complex macro#ecosystems, e.g., the #leaves, where #aphids feed, while the #ant #Formica #fusca is collecting their excretions (honeydew) as food.
#ecology #evolution
© #StefanFWirth #Berlin May 2025

#Photos
© S.F. Wirth

After finishing Saturday chores I went for an evening walk around the neighborhood. The weather is getting warmer, and the snow we got two days ago is thankfully gone now. I hope I don't see more snow until November. But now that I have said that, it'll probably snow in May 😮‍💨

Some of the photos I took today turned out okayish. Streets and people before and after sunset. A Norway maple seedling rising from leaf litter. I saw four Eurasian curlews and even managed to get my first photo of them. Sure, they are just silhouettes in the sky, but I like the photo. The setting sun however… I tried to get a good photo of the sunset, but unfortunately I was not able to find any neat compositions before the sun went below the treeline. Oh well, maybe next time.

#spring
#april
#eurasiancurlew
#numeniusarquata
#norwaymaple
#acerplatanoides
#sunset
#helsinki
#pitäjänmäki
#tali
#finland
Enjoying a sugar hit, I see. Our local Norway maples and silver birches have started to produce sap, but I don't think I have ever seen a red squirrel licking it off the trunk of a maple before. I remember eating a maple sap icicle I found when I was kid. Have you tasted birch or maple sap?

#redsquirrel
#sciurusvulgaris
#sap
#maplesap
#norwaymaple
#acerplatanoides
#spring
#helsinki
#finland