The handsome mottled colours are called gleying. The reds and browns indicate oxidised (oxygen-rich) Iron and Manganese compounds; the greys or greenish tinges indicate reduced (oxygen-deprived) states of these minerals. Reduction occurs when the soil is waterlogged and bacteria living there extract oxygen from minerals, in the absence of free oxygen from the air.
The English seem unemotional … except for their passion for nature
