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The evenings are getting darker noticeably earlier now that we’re well into autumn. To get you in the mood for chillier days and logfire nights, see if you can conker our Autumn quiz; how well do you know this glorious season and what it brings to the British countryside? Take our autumn quiz full of surprising tidbits and find out a bit more about the distinctive season. It’s just-for-fun, so score yourself and see how well you do.
A) John Keats
‘To Autumn’ was one of Keats’ ‘odes’ and was published in 1820. He wrote it after a walk along the River Itchen near Winchester — as he tried to escape the sound of his landlady's daughter practising the violin.
C) Pumpkin
The line features in Walden, Henry Thoreau's classic account of life in a simple one-room cabin in New England, first published in 1854.
C) Anne of Green Gables
This classic tells the story of a wildly creative little girl who arrives to help with the work at Green Gables and charms her way into local life.
B) Chlorophyll
Green plants have the ability to make their own food. They do this through a process called photosynthesis, which uses a green pigment called chlorophyll. In winter, the reduced sunlight means photosynthesis loses its benefits — it costs a tree more energy to support a leaf than the leaf gives back. Autumnal colours then result from other chemicals in the leaves.
D) The end of British Summer Time
Taking its cue from the term 'Fall', the phrase 'March forward, fall back' reminds you which way the clocks move a this time of year.
C) Jay
Jays are famous for their acorn feeding habits and in the autumn you may see them burying acorns for retrieving later in the winter, Jays 'cache' their acorns in many different places but most often in natural holes, under leaf litter and crevices in tree bark. The jay can remember where it left most of its haul and is thought to use visual clues such as nearby features to help guide it to its booty. They can even dig them out of 40 cm of snow!
B) 395
In 2011 the annual Hampstead Heath Conker Championship was recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as being the largest in the world. There were probably a few sore knuckles afterwards!
A) Gaggle
When in flight the collective noun for a group of geese is a skein, team or wedge. When they are flying close together they are called a plump.
A) Knot
The knot is a medium-sized, short, stocky sandpiper that migrates to the UK in large numbers during winter from its Arctic breeding grounds. They are commonly spotted feeding in estuaries around the coast,
C) Velvet
Each antler grows from an attachment point on the skull called a pedicle. While an antler is growing, it is covered with highly vascular skin called velvet, which supplies oxygen and nutrients to the growing bone.
A) Africa
British swallows spend their winter in South Africa - they travel through western France, across the Pyrenees, down eastern Spain into Morocco and across the Sahara and the Congo rainforest – finally reaching South Africa and Namibia.
D) Harvest moon
The "harvest moon" (also known as the "barley moon" or "full corn moon") is the full moon nearest to the autumnal equinox (22 or 23 September), occurring anytime within two weeks before or after that date.
B) Persephone
In distress her mother, Demeter (the goddess of the harvest), caused all the crops on Earth to die until her daughter was allowed to return, marking spring. However, Persephone must always return to the underworld every year.
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C) Trompete
Craterellus cornucopioides, or horn of plenty, is an edible mushroom. It is also known as the black chanterelle, black trumpet and trompette de la mort,which derives from 'hearing trumpet of death'.
A) True
Rather, it’s a spice mix made up of ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, ground allspice and ground cloves.
C) Helicopter seeds
The term was coined based on the way the seeds spiral through the air as they fall from the tree.
Score Yourself
So, how did you do? There are a total of 18 on offer There are no prizes so, just for fun, score yourself...
1-3: Ah, that's not great! Brush up on your knowledge and have another go!
4 - 8: Could do better...hmmm, you've got lot's to learn about the changing season. Guess you should start planning a trip...
9 - 12: Not bad but there's room for improvement and there are lots more things to discover so keep on exploring!
13 - 15: That's great, well done! You know lots about autumn and the seasonal changes it brings
16 - 18: Excellent, what a result! Great knowledge, you clearly know your stuff and are very familiar with this special season