Brush Hill bluebells

Brush Hill always puts on a stunning display of bluebells, so Bug Mad Girl and I decided to take a walk through the woods to see how they were coming along. Even though it was wet and dreary they were beautiful. It's a real wonder of nature to see the woodland floor carpeted in blue.



I think it'll be about one more week until they're at their peak, but they still looked lovely today. I'll go back on a sunny day next week and get some slightly less soggy photos!

There seemed to be lots of white bluebells (or are they called whitebells?) in amongst the blue ones. I've never really noticed them there before, but perhaps I just wasn't looking!

It's such a great time of the year as the spring flowers put on a show before the beech leaves break and shade out the woodland floor.

Wood sorrel

Yellow archangel

Lesser celandine - it was all closed up today, but when the sun shines it will
look great

Violets

We found several different fungi as we walked through the woods. We tend to associate fungi with Autumn, but there are plenty around all through the year just waiting for the right conditions to fruit.

Fairy inkcaps growing along the sleepers in the car park

Hairy curtain crust

Witches butter

I spotted a slime mould called reticularia lycoperdon on one of the tree trunks. It was white and shiny and felt spongy to the touch, but we could see it turning brown around the edges. When it's mature, the white skin dries and cracks so that the brown spores underneath can be dispersed by the wind or rain.

reticularia lycoperdon

What a wonderfully wet walk through the woods. It made Bug Mad Girl jump for joy!