In message , Pam
Moore writes
On Monday, 19 December 2016 14:33:32 UTC, Nick Maclaren wrote:
Is it just that the trees and I am getting older, or have others
noticed that the leaf fall seems to be unusually heavy this year?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I think that the leaves fell over a shorter period this year and so
soeemed more at the time: at keast here it seemed so!
Pam Moore

We had a particularly dry summer, and some trees were starting to show
signs of distress - particularly (for some reason) the chestnut. Leaves
were beginning to shrivel and die before they reached full maturity.
Then the rain came - and the trees seemed to revive.

Continuing into a rather damp (but not unduly wet) autumn, and in the
absence of frosts until we were well into November, the trees took on a
second lease of life. In the absence of any really strong winds, they
hung onto their leaves until we were almost into December. However, they
eventually realised it really was winter, and a lot of different species
(including the ash - which is normally one of the first to drop its
leaves) dropped their leaves over the next two weeks - making it appear
that that there had been an unusually heavy leaf fall.

So, in short, I doubt that there were really more leaves, but instead
all the leaves that there were fell in a relatively short period.
--
Ian