A colourful woodland carpet

Woodland walks just now will provide a cacophony of colour as trees take on their fresh green leaves and more often than not will provide a sea of colour underfoot as the blue-ish mauve bluebell dominates ground cover.
We know two types of bluebell this time of year — the English Bluebell which grows mainly in woodland and hedgerows, and the Spanish Bluebell which prefers open land and is usually found in gardens . . . and if you do not keep a wary eye on them can soon spread like wildfire.
This time I am indebted to my FB friend Donna and her friends who reminded me yesterday of the springtime beauty that Bluebells provide, while I was chasing big ships heading for the Ocean as part of shipping giant’s Cunard’s 175th anniversary.
So surprise, surprise, today found me at the same National Trust estate just outside the Hampshire market town of Romsey drinking in the woodland beauty and its own sea ... of bluebells.
This is one of the beauties of our springtime when the days start to lengthen and the weather warms up. Just reflect how quickly the winter bare trees have taken on their springtime foliage, now augmented by the floral carpet. When the flowers are fully formed, the stalks of English bluebells curve downwards to give it the characteristic hanging bell look. One way to help identify an English bluebell is if all the flowers are on the same side of the stalk.

By contrast when the flowers of Spanish bluebells are fully formed, the stalk is straight and you can identify it by seeing if the flowers are all around the stalk.