Outdoors: Our woodlands are about to play host to one of nature’s spring wonders

These shimmering blue carpets in our woodlands are an unforgettable sight

Snowdrops have been the heralds, but over the next few weeks a remarkable succession of dazzling wildflowers will bring colour to our woods. They’ll burst into bloom in a race against time to take full advantage of the sunlight filtering through bare tree branches that will soon turn into full leaf and bring perpetual shade to the woodland floor.

It is always an exciting time of year and the colour these flowers bring is all the more vibrant after the dull preceding months. The ecological importance of these flowers should not be underestimated either, for they provide vital energy-rich nectar for emerging bees, butterflies and other insects.

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The primrose, perhaps the ultimate beauty, is one of the first to flower. The crinkled oval green leaves have been visible for the last month or so, but almost miraculously, the pastel yellow flowers suddenly appear. The softness of the yellow is so compelling. There’s no more stunning sight than a bank of primroses bathed in the sunlight of a dew-filled spring morning. The name is derived from prima rosa – meaning first rose – and is a reference to its early flowering (although the plant is not a rose). Primroses produce two kinds of flower and can seed only when the pollen from one sort of flower is transferred by an insect to another.

White star-shaped wood anemones are also springing into flower in our broadleaved woods about now, soon to be followed by lesser celandine, wood-sorrel and greater stitchwort. The lesser celandine showcases sparkling gold flowers that bloom for several weeks. It always looks at its best during fine and settled weather because when it is dull or wet the flower closes up. The same is true of the wood-sorrel. It first flowers in April and can often be found growing on moss-covered tree stumps and fallen logs. Examine this flower closely and you’ll see that the apparently white petals are in fact gently inscribed with lilac. Along woodland edges, the striking white flowers of greater stitchwort are held aloft on rather straggly stems, with the plant being so named because of its medicinal properties in curing “stitches” and similar pains.

One of our most intriguing spring wildflowers is the ramson, also known as wild garlic. This year, I found ramsons emerging into full leaf at the end of January, the earliest I can ever recall first seeing them. The leaves have a wonderful garlicky taste, but make sure you smell them first in case you have misidentified the plant. The ramson is also known as bear’s garlic, possibly because the leaves resemble the shape of a bear’s ear, or perhaps because these are the first plants bears eat once they emerge from hibernation.

The flagship flower of any spring woodland is undoubtedly the bluebell, or wild hyacinth as it is sometimes known in Scotland. These shimmering blue carpets in our woodlands are an unforgettable sight, which have inspired writers and poets, including Gerard Manley Hopkins who so eloquently described their “blue-buzzed haze” and “wafts of intoxicant perfume” and who saw in the bluebell the very “glory of God”. The native bluebell is increasingly under threat from hybridisation with the non-native Spanish bluebell so favoured by gardeners. The UK is home to almost half the world’s population of our indigenous bluebell and experts fear that inter-breeding with Spanish bluebells will blur their genetic integrity.

Bluebells are among the last of our woodland flowers to stay in bloom and by the beginning of June, this wonderful floral succession will have come largely to an end as the tree canopy increases. A few weeks later, the birds will have stopped singing too and woods that only a few weeks previously were so full of colour and sound will become rather dull places. It is one of nature’s greatest seasonal contrasts and a reason for us all to lace up those walking boots over the next few weeks and enjoy our woodlands while they’re at their most stunning.

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