Bluebell time!

Girding loins, googling woodlands, and getting out there...now

I found myself in the woods last weekend, taking snaps of bluebells, idly wondering when they would be at their peak. Suddenly it dawned on me. I’m doing That Thing. You know the one. It is exactly the thing that I created my Almanacs to counter - the tendency to not notice how special the moment you are in is, while you are in it. To let everything wash over you as if even these most magical moments in the year are hum drum.

And so this is just to say…wow everyone…It is BLUEBELL TIME! Yes it’s happening right now (or very very soon, I’m in the South West of England, which is warmer than much of England, so consider this advance warning). In a woods near you there are thick carpets of so many blue flowers that you don’t even have to squint for them to turn into an amazing purple-blue carpet. It’s truly astonishing.

And it really is special for us. It’s so easy to forget, but this is our monarch butterflies, our wildebeest migration. This happens nowhere else in the world, as over half of the world’s bluebells are here. In that woods down the road.

This picture was just (just! There is go again…) at my local woods, but a few years ago I looked up where to find the best local displays and ended up visiting Prior’s Wood near Bristol and it really was worth the trouble, absolutely breathtaking blue, so thick, so abundant. I think I’ll go again this weekend.

Here is the link I used to find the best displays.

Go if you can, and perhaps let us know in the comments below where you’ve seen wonderful bluebells, and what stage yours are at now (remembering to mention where you are), and...you know…how gorgeous they are.