We're lucky in Bristol to have access to bluebell woods, which, whilst not as extravagant as, say, the Forest of Dean, do provide some soothing colour to wash your eyes with when the violent green of new leaves gets a bit too much. And there's two fabulous garlic woods within two miles of where I live, one of which is also full of cow parsley, and makes you think you're inside the wildest, most sumptuous hand fasting. As for may, I was struck, driving around north Bristol, how magnificent it's been this year.
When it comes to bluebells, Ashton Court is a favourite destination, and we had a lovely breakfast and walk there on Easter Sunday ...
... because where better to spend Easter morning than on Easter Island? (Or at least, our version of it.)
This hollowing oak is one of my favourite trees at Ashton Court because it reminds me of the hollowing oak in the field we used to walk in every day until it was rented and trashed by the local golf club.
Cwtch and I also visited a couple of local nature reserves: Monks Pool and Bradley Brook, near Winterbourne ...
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Monks Pool
Bradley Brook
Just across the M4 from Monks Pool and Bradley Brook is Three Brooks Nature Reserve. I was there a bit too early for the garlic this year, but the bluebells were great, and the biggest joy there at this time of year is the community orchard in blossom, which was lovely.
marsh marigolds in the pond
The community orchard
Later in the month, there was the sadness of a dead badger caught up in some debris in the middle of the River Trym ...
... but the garlic and cow parsely was starting to come out, and by May the whole of the miniature gorge was bewitched.
Horse chestnut blossom
On 1st May I was especially pleased to find a jay covert feather in the riverbed; a special gift for Beltane.
The other area we visited frequently was the Frome valley within Bristol, namely Wickham Glen and Eastville Park Lake ...
... where the hornbeam that fell into the lake in January is in full leaf ...
leucistic female mallard
... and Cwtch thought better of even attempting to chase the Canada geese and their goslings ...
... and finally Purdown, which is our go-to place for walks these days. (This year I didn't think the bluebells there were quite as stunning as in previous years, maybe because of the dry spring we've had, but they were still lovely.)
Sometimes they coincide: this year the bluebells were all but over by the time the garlic in Hermitage Wood bloomed, but it was still a glorious sight, especially in the early morning light, which is when Cwtch and I mostly walk there ...
... as was the whitethorn blossom, both within the woods ...
... and outside them, in Stoke Park.
Sadly, I did spot another casualty of Storm Darragh at the foot of Pale Plantation, down the slope of which I tend not to venture in winter because it's steep and muddy ...
... and even worse, a magnificent coppiced horse chestnut that had sustained some severe damage from a fire lit too close to it, for yea, even as the bluebells and ramsons and whitethorn flower, so beginneth also the season of barbecues and bonfires.
Oh well. Some flowers, fungi, feathers, etc to finish off with ...
Some of the flowers we've seen (in rows):
bluebells and celandine; buttercup and Jack-by-the-hedge; cow parsley; bluebells and marsh stitchwort; green-winged orchids; red campion; white dead nettle; primroses; ground ivy; bush vetch; forget-me-nots; crabapple blossom; lesser celandine; cowslips and bugle; yellow archangel; small-flowered cranesbill; herb Robert; elder blossom; whitethorn blossom
fabulous fungi
Missing all the insects I used to see up the Field of the Hollowing Oak, but here, at least, are a couple of speckled woods
hoggin
Clockwise: Some early moulted feathers - ring-necked parakeet; that jay covert again; jay secondary; buzzard; and two predation sites - blue tit and starling
chiff-chaff
