Always Take A Spare Camera Battery..
And of course I haven’t.
Because, after all, we aren’t going very far.
Where we are going though is a departure from the norm. I rarely venture this way and I don’t know why because I always find the native woodland which borders the garden fascinating. And unbelievably restful. It’s down to time I guess. There’s always something pressing to do elsewhere.
At some point we will need to do some work down here. This patch of land has been left to its own devices for every year that we’ve owned it and no doubt many more before that as well. The woodland floor is littered with dead branches and not a few fallen trees. Other victims of past storms now lean precariously on their neighbours having found no clear bit of space in which to descend. It’s hard work getting around. Low growing branches, impenetrable thickets of holly and creeping mats of ivy conspire to trip up the unwary.
Orchis mascula
The early purple orchid.
I could have viewed the principal object of today’s quest by means of an easy stroll down the drive but decide to take a circuitous route, off piste, to try and find a better camera angle. The ground is soft and yielding from the build up of leafmould over a foot deep in places. It’s lovely stuff. But unless I’m on a mission to collect some of it a foray into this magical place happens but once a year.
We are not alone..
It takes some minutes to find a way through to where I want to be. All this effort had better be worth it. Twigs and brambles snag at my dungarees and I have to stop frequently to unhook. I stumble over tree roots obscured by the leaf litter and into rabbit burrows.. or could this one be a fox? Difficult to judge the scale I know, but it seems large enough. And note the distressed feather lying on the ground, was the body of a victim dragged this way?
I find what I think is the perfect spot and extend the legs of the tripod, snap the camera into position on the mounting shoe, turn it on and focus for the shot. Immediately that telltale whirring.. and the no-nonsense click of a definitive decision having been taken on my behalf. I don’t need to look at the display. “Battery exhausted.” Only “No Card Present” would have been worse and of course I know this because I’ve been there too. The tarmac drive is just a few feet behind me but there’s a four foot sheer drop to reach it. I could probably make it. But now is not the best of times to be carted off in an ambulance. Nothing for it but to retrace my steps, return to the house for the spare battery and start the journey all over again.
Hyacinthoides non-scripta, English bluebells
One of the markers of ancient native woodland. Worth the extra (quarter) mile.
They are early. In previous years it’s been approaching mid May.
Further down the hill towards the river the bluebells are less advanced but it would be hard to find a more tranquil spot. Be it ever so briefly, the world and all its troubles seems a very long way away.
Hyacinthoides non-scripta, the English bluebell
Long before our time here someone decided, in his or her wisdom, to plant more bluebells. The Spanish bluebell has a similar name: Hyacinthoides hispanica. They are maybe easy to confuse on a quick peruse of a catalogue. But in appearance they are very different.
The English bluebell, picked from the woodland, is on the right. They are smaller plants, a deeper blue and have flowers mostly on one side of the stem, distinctly drooping, or nodding, at the top.
The Spanish bluebell is on the left. You can see immediately that it’s a much stockier plant. It is a paler blue, usually, but could be pink or white. The bell shaped flowers have spread out tips arranged all around the upright stems. They are attractive in their own right and have been planted in gardens for years. The trouble is they readily hybridise with the native bluebells, producing plants which take on the characteristics of both, as seen on the centre stem above. These hybrids are now spreading rapidly across the garden. If I want to retain the purity of the English strain I have no option but to remove all the rest. And that is easier said than done. Hyacinthoides hispanica has large white bulbs which haul themselves deep down into the soil making them very hard to dig up. I’ve been pulling the foliage on some bulbs for years and still they manage to survive.
Another mission? Yes indeed. But ancient English woodland is becoming increasingly rare. It makes even the very small fragment that still exists here well worth protecting.
Thank you, a magical place.
Makes you want to believe in fairies 😀
How annoying about the battery – but wonderful to see the bluebells. We had a lot of the Spanish in a garden I once worked in and the only thing we could do was to go around and remove the flower heads. Boring and endlessly time-consuming!
I try to pull out the foliage when it gets high enough to get a good grip. I’ve given up trying to dig them out, they’ve obviously been there a number of years. After about two or three years of that treatment they do start to weaken.
Lovely, I learned the hard way to always take the spare battery with me, was out and spotted an eagle, got a couple of photos, and then ran out of power, and iPhone camera’s just don’t take the same quality photos as the Nikon
Oh how infuriating. I also always take a spare battery when out and about. In the garden I don’t usually bother. But I hadn’t reckoned on the time consuming business of finding a route through the wilderness! Next time..
Thanks for going back for the battery. Those images really make the world go away for a moment. And this is the first time I’ve ever seen the two bluebells side by side where it is easy to see the difference. Thanks for the lesson as well.
It’s the vast range of hybrids that make things so confusing. They muddy the waters between the two species. Some are easy to spot, others so like one or other of the parents that apparently it takes a DNA analysis to identify them. I shall just pull anything that doesn’t look entirely English and hope I don’t end up at The Hague.
Beautiful – very peaceful, add the sound of trickling water and pretty well idyllic. Love love love bluebells – especially the scent in those woodland glades. We have a few – even more than last year (neglect does wonderful things) but I have spotted the Spanish ones. They are coming up – will test the proper ones and see if they are scented. I understand that the crosses do not carry the perfume.
I wonder what is in that hole. Looks too small for a badger sett. A telltale pheasant feather or just a chance one fallen out – bunny warren? You’d see bunny poo and holes around. Intriguing – wildlife webcam needed!
I don’t remember seeing bunny poo or other holes. I shall have to venture back. I also thought about taking the wildcam, I’m intrigued now. The entrance was clear with no vegetation, it does look to be in current use.
You will have to get a deerstalker hat and carry a magnifying glass! I agree with your first thoughts – fox because the badgers would have regular housecleaning sessions!
Three deer here this evening, the deerstalker might be appropriate. One made it as far as the patio and, possibly the same one, kept me company for an hour while I was gardening this afternoon. They are getting braver, not something I’m sure I want to encourage. It’s so wonderful to see them but, as Mike would say, they have a particular fondness for things with long latin names!
Oh indeed – rose petals a delicacy! 😨
I have already had to move ‘The Lark Ascending’ for its own protection 😡
Oh no! I understand having dark netting draped over plants deters the little beasts. They don’t like what they can’t see and a virtual invisible barrier supposedly works.
That’s a good tip, thanks. I will give it a try down by the river where I’ve started planting. I’ve tried to stick to deer resistant plants, which has worked so far, but sooner or later I’m going to want to plant something that isn’t!
Good luck – I haven’t seen the deer in the garden for a long time, although they are in the field. 3 now – mum, last year’s baby and dad. Soon to be 4 by the looks of mum’s big tum! Maybe our regular trips up and down to the chickens makes them stay further afield. But there are a few Youtube videos that will give you an idea of deer deterrents. Fishing line of a certain thickness is supposed to be brilliant – but I’ve held off in case birds get tangled in it. Always a downside! But netting is harmless – I haven’t tried it – they ducks and chickens do more damage than the deer – the little beasts!
I have set up the wildcam down there today. That should ensure the deer stay away for weeks.. 😉
😂
Only one deer capture, mostly derriere! So I have moved the wildcam this evening to in front of the fox hole. We shall see..
Thank you for explaining the difference between the two bluebells for an antipodean uninitiated. UK bloggers have mentioned that there is a difference and bemoaned the fact that the Spanish ones easily take over. Your campaign against them reminds me of mine to remove all traces of a stinging nettle patch from the wood on our olive farm when we first bought it!
What a beautiful woodland you have to enjoy. Something to be treasured.
Ouch! At least Spanish bluebells don’t sting. But there are plenty of stinging nettles around the place here as well. Unfortunately because time was so short last year they have repopulated areas that I’d previously cleared. Something to look forward to..
From restoring a very old home to restoring ancient woodland – you never back away from a challenge! I hope pulling our all those Spanish bluebells will prove to be a meditative exercise. As to the camera battery problem, I can completely identify but I don’t have as far to backtrack when I discover I have that problem.
It’s a shame to destroy the Spanish bluebells really because they are quite attractive. But the number of hybrids that have sprung up, and their onward march toward the bluebell wood, tells me that I have to get on and do it.
Yes indeed well worth protecting! Easy for me to say I’m not the one who will be doing the digging. Is it actually possible to get rid of the non-natives and hybrids? All that serene beauty. What species of trees predominate in your woodland?
Here people are throwing tantrums because the Governor closed the beaches.
I never forget a spare battery, but have forgotten the sd card too many times. It’s always something.
It takes a long time to get rid of the bulbs. Those that I can’t dig up I’m just pulling out the foliage, before they get a chance to bloom. Incredibly they still manage to put up more the following year and sometimes even the year after that.
The wood is predominantly beech, oak and ash with a bit of sycamore thrown in.
Looks like the UK and US are going to come out of this crisis with the worst record in terms of handling it. I have now given up reading the news, I just despair.
Oh, what a fun hike! I enjoyed the entire thing…especially the wild part. The fallen trees make excellent “snags” and hiding places for wildlife. Beautiful “secret” garden!
We are certainly not short of places for wildlife. I wouldn’t want to be too tidy, but I would like to be able to move around it more easily. The most urgent thing is to remove hanging branches that could fall and cause injury, either to us or the woodland creatures.
Lovely post, Jessica and very interesting about the Spanish bluebell, we have some in our garden, and I have noticed it is very hard to kill, a bossy survivor! The woodlands look wonderfully green and peaceful. I haven’t forgotten a battery for my camera, but we once forgot to charge our camera when we were on a wildlife tour in Zimbabwe. (well.. one of us forgot to charge it!)
Mentioning no names..!
Nothing seems to eat the Spanish bluebell either. The mice have no trouble locating any other bulb I plant, but the Spanish bluebells get missed every time.
A magical place, indeed. I spent more than a minute or two just looking at your close-up shot of the beautiful English Bluebell. And then spent another few minutes imagining myself sitting among the bluebells down by the stream. A wonderful respite in a crazy world. Thanks for making the extra effort.
This evening there were three deer wandering down by the water. The light too bad to get a picture sadly, not that I’d have got close enough anyway. On so many levels the world just carries on as before and will still be there when all the craziness is over.
Last year my wife and I spent ten days in Early May in Wales walking the country paths of the Gower Peninsula and the Brecon Beacons National Park. The bluebells and wild garlic were in full bloom and just amazed us. We don’t have anything quite like that here in New Hampshire, USA. This spring we were to be in Belgium. Oh well, maybe next year.
That’s a beautiful part of Wales and I can’t think of a better time to see it than May!
Amazing photos, in real life it must have been wonderful. And the scent!
It’s even better today, I peaked too early!
Oh, yes “No Card Present” – been there! I do carry a spare battery around and after my last disaster with a card that wouldn’t work (read only as the little tag had fallen off) I now carry a spare card around too. But this is only of I remember to take the bag that they are in. Lovely to have your own bluebell wood. And a reminder to me to take the tripod to ‘our’ hill and take some bluebell photos before they disappear, though it still seems far too early to me.
Everything seems too early this year. I wish it would slow down. Spring is my favourite season and yet we seem to rushing headlong into summer. Already the ground is drying up again, as if the last few days of rain never happened. You have some wonderful local walks and it must be especially lovely to have it all to yourselves!
This is your own woodland Jessica….? Sigh…I am in a state of woodland envy! I know I have recreated a little woodland here but it can never be the same (except in a few hundred years perhaps). What an asset to have! Your own piece of woodland heaven
Every time I plant a new tree I regret that I won’t be here to see it in its full glory. Thank goodness for the witch hazels, cornus, amelanchier, that give us so much pleasure from the get go.
Oh what a most special patch of earth to be a custodian of Jessica. I am mentally planting snowdrops as I look at your photos 😃 I have recently bought a book called ‘A Wood of One’s Own’ by Ruth Pavey which I am looking forward to reading. It was a snip of £1 when I bought it via my Kindle but has gone up since then.
Yes, £5.99 on ibooks, I just looked it up. But it sounds so inspiring I may well have to succumb. Thanks for the tip Anna. We must compare notes.
There are snowdrops in the wood too but so much of it is choked with weeds, overwhelming both those and the bluebells. If I could only double the amount of hours in a day I would willingly tackle it!
Beautiful Jessica…thanks for the woodland stroll..
Stay safe..
Cheers!
Linda :o)
You too Linda. I hope you are allowed trips out to the lake, I will pop by and see. These are such anxious times, we need every bit of escapism we can get.
I planted some English bluebells in our garden last year. The leaves have appeared but no flowers so I’m wondering whether they need to bed in before flowering.
It might be down to the size of the bulb and whether it has reached flowering size. I’ve noticed here that where the bulbs have started to spread at the edges of the drifts it takes a year or two before they bloom.
Hi Jessica
Thank you for sharing the photos of your special woodland. With lockdown it is unlikely I will have a chance to visit a woodland full of bluebells so it has been a pleasure to see yours! As a compensation over our garden wall there is a flock of Shetland sheep which over the last while have been lambing. So maybe life at home is not too bad!
Oh that sounds wonderful Joyce.
For three years we rented a cottage on a sheep farm and lambing was the highlight of my year. We used to go up to the barn every evening and watch the shepherd at work. So humbling to witness those first few steps and see the mother tending her lamb. I am envious!
Your photographs are stunning. Well worth the trek back for a battery! xx
Thanks Martine! The bluebells are starting to go over now but it’s been a great year for them.
Your native bluebells are beautiful, I did not realise you had so many. We have very few of the natives but too many of the Spanish type, Mr TT has been hauling those out or chopping off their heads over the years. If they are not allowed to set seed we feel we are doing a bit towards preserving the lovely native ones.
Stay well, xx
There are quite a few patches of bluebells scattered around but too many of them are obscured by brambles or other ‘undesirable’ foliage. I suppose that has come about naturally but it’s a long way from those glorious photographs you see of woodlands carpeted in blue. Perhaps a little more active management is required!