So THAT's Why Leaves Turned Brown So Early This Year

Brown leaves, fallen earlyI was pretty amazed to see ripe blackberries on my park run this July, but having spoken to the Woodland Trust, that’s nothing – the earliest ready-to-eat ones reported in 2025 appeared in June. After that, premature fruit and early browning leaves took over my walks. I spotted a fallen chestnut in July (this is usually a September/October phenomenon), for instance. And I noticed fallen sycamore seeds and even their grounded brown leaves late that month too, when their canopies were meant to be at their fullest.What is going on, and why are leaves brown in late summer? According to the experts, the reason isn’t just “early autumn” – it’s a sign of stress.Fallen (if not quite ready) conker in JULY... Christ alive pic.twitter.com/ErwgsJVnaO— Amy (@myGloverrr) July 24, 2025Why are leaves brown so early this year?Speaking to the BBC, Ed Hirons, woodland manager at National Forest, said that “it might look like autumn is here already but these brown, crinkly leaves are trees putting out stress signals due to the lack of water from the drought we’ve experienced”.This is not the natural processes of autumn, he added, but rather a “concerning” reaction to this hot, dry year that affects shallow-rooted trees like sycamore, silver birch, and field maple the most. Autumn leaf changes occur in response to shifts in daytime sunlight. But some of this year’s colour changes, the expert said, are more a sign of distress. Speaking to HuffPost UK, postdoctoral research associate Dr Dylan Simpson, who is working on the phenology (or timing) of plant development in the US, said that “climate change has brought a pattern of warmer springs, which brings with it earlier flowering and earlier fruiting”.“Heatwaves at the right time can also accelerate development in any given year,” he added. This is not the same force as drought, which has been linked to this year’s summer browning leaves. But it does explain the early presence of autumn fruit this year, and is tied to climate change, which also increases our risk of drought.What happens when leaves change colour?Green leaves have lots of chlorophyll, which helps to absorb the energy from sunlight.But when they get less light in autumn or when they are stressed, deciduous trees decide the chlorophyll isn’t needed anymore and shed it. This reveals the reds, yellows, and browns that were covered by chlorophyll all summer – hues created by xanthophylls and carotenoids, found year-round in leaves. Fire-red anthocyanins cause vibrant scarlet leaves and are only released when there’s been a lot of sunlight that summer, so you may see more of these this year, too.Related...Ripe Blackberries Spotted As Early As June In Heatwave-Heavy YearHere's What To Do With A Glut Of Blackberries (Besides Making Jam)What Does The Slowdown In Arctic Sea Ice Melting Actually Mean For Climate Change?

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