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Autumn vs fall uk10/13/2023 ![]() ![]() “When they migrate, they risk predation and exhaustion. At the same time, it is likely to be more difficult to spot Bewick’s swans, wild geese and other water fowl which would normally migrate south to Britain during the autumn. Mild weather means birds, such as blackcaps and swallows, which usually head south for the winter, are likely to linger for longer in Britain. “There are a lot of insects that have shown a massive change in distribution, heading north as weather conditions are becoming more favourable for them.” While it may be possible to spot rarer insects, like Roesel’s bush-crickets, tree bumblebees and ivy bees, on autumnal walks farther and farther north this year, this is yet another sign that the UK climate is changing. “There seem to be far fewer moths and spiders around this year.” ![]() He is also sad to note a decline in the number of insects, a long-term trend which he suspects was probably compounded by the heatwave. Iain Webb, conservation officer, The Wildlife Trusts ![]() They showed really suddenly and then stopped, because of the heat.” If it’s not really cold, fungal infections increase and cocooned overwintering insects are susceptible to fungal attack. “But now, where I live in Cambridge, there are very few blackberries of any quality around. “Usually, this is the time to go out blackberrying,” says Webb. Other classic indications of autumn’s arrival have been similarly disrupted: in June, the Woodland Trust (which runs Nature’s Calendar, a nationwide citizen science project which tracks the impact of climate change on wildlife by recording seasonal events) received some of its earliest ever reports of ripe blackberries. While some trees are retaining their leaves for longer, due to mild weather, others – including silver birches and rowan trees – have already experienced a “false autumn”, dropping their leaves while it was still summer, to try to retain moisture during the drought. “If there’s another drought next year, a lot more trees might suffer more severely.” It takes a lot of energy out of the roots, which weakens them.”Ī lush and prolific autumn season now will make these plants more susceptible to disease and arid conditions later. “Producing a lot of fruit can be a sign of stress. Hawthorn bushes laden with berries, heaps of acorns and conkers littering the ground, squirrels and nuthatches feasting on an abundance of hazelnuts – these can all be signs, he says, that plants are responding to a survival threat. Most instances of fall in British publications are in reference to American things-television seasons, New York City tourism, and so on-but it’s clear the term is at least familiar to British readers.Conservation officer Iain Webb in Fulbourn Fen. Soon enough, like the autumn leaves themselves, the full-blown fall season of shiny new shows will be upon us. Sure, there are fall-colored M&Ms, but autumn candy otherwise looks unappealing. They offer a stylish alternative to the typical fall coat, providing just the right amount of warmth for a 63-degree autumn day in L.A. We even found a few examples of both words used in the same sentence: ExamplesĪmerican writers are indiscriminate, using both fall and autumn, usually depending on which sounds better. And although we found quite a few instances of fall in Australian publications, Australian writers seem to favor autumn by a significant margin. This has changed, however, as fall has been gaining ground in British publications for some time.Ĭanadians are just as likely as Americans to use fall. After that, while fall became the preferred term in the U.S., autumn became so prevalent in British English that fall as a term for the season was eventually considered archaic. So while the term is now widely used in the U.S., it is not exclusively American, nor is it American in origin.Īutumn came to English from the French automne in the 15th or 16th century, but it didn’t gain prominence until the 18th century. It was originally short for fall of the year or fall of the leaf, but it commonly took the one-word form by the 17th century, long before the development of American English. Fall is in fact an old term for the season, originating in English in the 16th century or earlier. Some who consider British English the only true English regard fall as an American barbarism, but this attitude is not well founded. Fall and autumn are both accepted and widely used terms for the season that comes between summer and winter. ![]()
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