Walking around its hard to imagine that last month we were gripped by snow and ice. Leaves are unfurling, a vibrant green. Blossom decorates trees like mini hanging baskets, in soft pink and white hues. Bluebells droop in shaded spots, their bell like shapes appearing in deep violet, pale purple, pink and white.
Bluebells are a lovely species to photograph but there is a more sinister side to the different colour bluebells that carpet our woodlands in Spring. Our native species of bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) only come in that deep violet we so associate with them and white. The pale purple ones are an escaped garden Spanish species (Hyacinthoides hispanica). These have interbred with our natives resulting in the pink versions (Hyacinthoides x massartiana).
They are quite easy to differentiate once you know what to look for and there are lots of guides readily available on the internet.
Recently I decided to try and photograph the bluebell in macro. Trying to capture the aesthetic beauty of this flower that gives it its name.
Around half of the world's population of bluebells grow in the UK.
Our native bluebell and the invasive Spanish variety can both have cream pollen.
Native bluebells have that iconic drooping shape and all the flowers form on one side of the stem.
Occasionally you get white bluebells which lack the blue pigment.
Here, morning dew has collected as droplets on this delicate flower.
On Dartmoor, the bluebells grow on open fields, surprising as they are typically a woodland species. Here a Dartmoor Pony foal strolls through the blue meadow.
Emsworthy Mire, on Dartmoor is the best place to see these fabulous carpets of blue.
Of course, most bluebells are found in shaded spots, in woodland or road verges covered by dappled sunlight. Bluebells that grow in woodlands must complete their life-cycles before the full canopy of the trees are in leaf.