Kilmun Arboretum

I know: I'm obsessed with the colours of this autumn. Today's promise of worsening weather had us out in the morning for a quick march along the path from the arboretum in Kilmun - you can see some of the young trees growing in their nursery to the right of the picture, and a recently-planted tree behind its protective netting in the foreground. But it's the amazing pinks and russets of the mature trees that catch the eye; I've never seen them looking like this in all the years I've walked here.

Later, we met a scientist working on the analysis of tree samples - Sitka Spruce, in this instance - to determine how strong the wood was for use in the building trade, and whether or not the relatively limited gene pool of these trees was making them more prone to disease. He was lugging individual logs about on what looked like a porter's trolley, carefully piling them up with bright pink and green hieroglyphics painted on them. There was a sign asking people not to remove them, as they were needed for the research.

They were quite big - half trees, most of them. Makes you wonder ...