Bluebell wood

I consider myself to be very fortunate. I have discovered a bluebell wood of about an acre in size, only a 5 minute detour on my ride to work through Epping Forest. It's like a little bit of heaven - I even saw a deer standing amongst the blooms. The flowers are not yet in full bloom but I think it would be good to document their progress over the next weeks.
Native bluebell woods, late to bloom this year due to the cold conditions, are one of the magical events of an English spring, with their carpeting of intense blue petals and enchanting scent. They are an established part of the woodland floor, and an indicator of ancient woodland. However, a sight like this could become a rarity within the next 20 years or so as the British landscape tragically continues to suffer from pollution, encroaching urbanisation and above all the invasion by non-native Spanish bluebell varieties, which are less colourful, less prolific in their flowering and lack the heady scent of our native flowers. In many cases, people will be seeing not the native bluebell woods of times past but a combination of English bluebells and hybrids, the result of the cross-fertilisation of our native bulbs with the Spanish invaders, which were introduced at least a century ago in ornamental gardens and have since spread rapidly to colonise vast tracts of British woodland. These hybrids tend to be more vigorous than the natives and can quickly take hold in forests, resulting in the pure English variety being squeezed out. The hybrid invaders have been spreading steadily from areas close to ornamental gardens and suburban gardens to reach more remote woods that had previously been uncontaminated.
Native bluebells can be distinguished by their dark blue, scented flowers that grow from only one side of their curved stems. Their stamen and pollen are cream-coloured and their petals usually curve backwards or inwards. Hybrid varieties, by contrast, lack scent and have blue stamens, curved petals and lighter blue flowers that grow on both sides of the stem.
On a final note, Bluebell woods are almost unique to Britain. We have around 50% of the world's Bluebells, and most of the world's Bluebell woods. So enjoy them, and take your kids to see one while you still can.