Definitely ground-blue. Because sky-blue and the sea-blue cannot rival it.
Every spring, they turn the woodland floor into a carnival, swaying in their thousands in the rain and lobbing perfume into the air like so much confetti. The UK has about half the world’s bluebells, and considering that a sizeable bulk of them are crammed into the 2.5% of the country that is still ancient woodland – well, you get the idea. In early May, you cannot really tell if trees have roots or are just afloat on a fragrant sea.
Occasionally, their show adds a stichwort or two.
Or frames a passing fox.
England has an extremely rich plant folklore; even the most obscure flowers have acquired strange connotations over the centuries. Bluebells, upfront and demanding on the senses, stirred imaginations forcefully in their bell-like shape – they rang for fairies, so they said, but any humans who heard the tolling were doomed. More practically, their bulbs provided starch that stiffened Elizabethan collars and their sap deterred insects from attacking book binding.
Today, they have protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act against commercial gatherers, although there is also concern that the introduced Spanish bluebell is hybridising where it escapes from gardens. But mostly the blue show goes on. And it is, as you can see, almost entirely blue, except for the odd moments when it is white.
Like white wave caps on the woodland sea.
Interesting story that goes with the bluebell. Sure makes the countryside pretty for a while, until something else takes over that job.
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Yes, they run away soon enough and leave the woods to red campion and yellow pimpernel.
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Sharing is good.
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Such a beautiful carpet! Spring is so glorious.
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I wasn’t expecting much this year after how dry April was, but the rain returned in time and it’s been a really spectacular show.
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Hello Adele,
booked a cottage in Grasmere and the ferry Amsterdam – Newcastle today. Happy to come back in September.
Hope to meet some foxes in the tarns and fells. 😁
Greetings from East Westphalia,
Rainer
Alter Hof 6 33142 Büren-Wewelsburg 0172 7407210 02955 4429650 rainerboettchers.de textura-media.de
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That sounds perfect! Something to look forward to, and hopefully life will feel more normal by then. Cumbria is stunning.
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How amazing that you caught the fox standing among them!
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Thanks! That picture is a still shot off my trailcam 🙂 I had been hoping that the vixen would pose with the flowers and she obliged very well.
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I have always envied those bluebell woodlands in the UK. We do have bluebells here in New England but nothing even remotely like what you have. I have a couple in the small wooded area behind our house but am lucky to get more than a dozen blooms. Maybe in another ten years. 🙂
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They’re definitely one of our special wild sights. Bluebells easily won a contest for the UK’s favourite flower a while back.
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Beautiful photographs, especially the fox one!!!
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Thanks Darko. This is the cubs’ world when they first emerge from their earths. I wonder if they find it odd when all the bluebells disappear shortly afterwards!
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So beautiful! I love that you compare them to an earth-sea. Some day I’d love to see them in person.
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I hope you do! The perfume in the woods just completes the experience.
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What a beautiful post filled with such interesting details. What a lovely concept ‘ground-blue’! And extra special that the trailcam captured the fox pausing among the bluebells.
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Thank you 🙂 I’m still waiting for the rest of the wildflower show. Temperatures are pretty cold for the end of May and many plants are late. June should be interesting!
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