Bluebell Season - 11 May 2024

I’m truly happy I got such a sharp photo of this flower the other evening. In fact I have a slight suspicion that this was ‘fixed’ without me even knowing ( a sort of stylised photo ? ). I just took the photo and was pleased with the overall result.

This is a wild bluebell, or Hyacinthoides non-scripta. The only thing I’m not so happy about is the colouring. In real life the flower should be ‘blue’ rather than ‘lilac’. I guess my phone camera couldn’t cope with the evening light and instead of blurring the image it changed the colour. You can see the blue it should be on the tip of the flower.

This is a native flower that has many other names. The website I linked to above summed them up :

Common names: bluebell, English bluebell, British bluebell, English harebell, wild hyacinth, cuckoo’s boots, granfer griggles, witches’ thimbles, lady’s nightcap, fairy flower, cra’tae (crow’s toes).

This time of the year you can see bluebells in big expanses of woodland and along uncut banks. It is truly a refreshing site after a long winter.

I find it’s better to see bluebells when there are many of them to get the special purple carpet effect. The slow paced video below suggests to actually bend down a bit to get a better angle to enjoy the view. I will try to do that next time and to go a bit earlier to see the full effect.

Although it is quite an old 10-year-old video I’ve included it because I was drawn by the nice colours, clear images and unassuming presenter.

Bluebell flowers are very delicate and will not last long so it is great to enjoy them while they are about.

Thank you for reading !