There is nothing that can beat the glory of a woodland carpeted in a swathe of bluebells in spring. This year's bluebells are absolutely stunning and have been in bloom for quite a few weeks now. When the weather was hot the other weekend and we visited Mardley Heath Nature Reserve near Welwyn in Hertfordshire, they were especially beautiful as they were fully opened in their thousands towards the sunshine and their perfume gave off wafts of sweet scent as we walked through the woods.
Our English bluebells with their violet blue hues and tubular flowers, which appear only down one side of the stem, are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. This forbids any harvesting of bluebells from woodland for commercial purposes.
Bluebells enjoy our British climate and they grow most densely in our country and are common through Northern Europe too. They have a finite period where they grow, bud and bloom before the woodland tree canopy bursts into leaf and casts shadow over the woodlood floor. They start to emerge in early March and their peak flowering time can be late April until May, depending on the weather conditions and their whereabouts.
It is lovely to see woodlands full of our native bluebells as there is much concern over the popular Spanish bluebells that are grown in many of our gardens. The Spanish variety can cause crossbreeding as it's much more vigorous than the native English bluebell and it is diluting some of our native bluebells' unique characteristics in some areas.
Spanish bluebells have much broader leaves compared to the narrow leaves of the English bluebell. Our native bluebell flowers are smaller with their tips curled back and the stem drooping or nodding, whereas the Spanish bluebell flowers are found on upright stems, all around each stem and the flowers are bell shaped with their tips spread out. The pollen anthers of our native flowers are cream compared to the anthers of the Spanish variety, which are usually blue - so they are quite different to each other.
Here are some pictures taken in local beauty spot Mardley Heath Nature Reserve.
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