Looking for bluebells in the Charnwood Forest

Saturday 30th April and Saturday 14th May 2022

I love bluebells. I love to see these delicate blue flowers each spring as they cover the floors of ancient woodland, so over the years I have gone to many places to see them. Last year I went to the Churnet Valley in Staffordshire, just outside the Peak District and there I saw fabulous displays of bluebells. However, I don’t need to go far to see bluebells as the Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire has tremendous displays at the end of April or the beginning of May that can more than satisfy. I make a date, every May Day weekend, to do a walk around the Charnwood Forest so I can take in the display of bluebells and last year I was fortunate to have good weather which afforded me with great pictures of this most delightful flower. The route I take is always the same and is one that I have taken many times before, several times every year to keep up my hill walking fitness and was described on this blog back in 2015, so I will concentrate now on the pictures rather than the walk.

When I entered Swithland Wood, I veered left off my usual route and into Stocking Wood even though I had not explored this corner of the woods before and soon I found an abundant display of bluebells. I was surprised by how good the bluebells were in this area and immediately started taking loads of pictures. There are usually more bluebells in the southern end of Swithland Wood, but they couldn’t compete with those in Stocking Wood. No more bluebells were seen on my walk until, after passing through Bradgate Park, beside John’s Lee Wood, which has great displays, but only of what can be seen from the footpath as there is no public access in the wood. That was also the case further along my walk where my path ran alongside Ulverscroft Wood which always has a stunning display of bluebells at this time of the year, but with no public access. Further on, and in Poultney Wood, it wasn’t the bluebells that I was now taking pictures of, but wood anemones, which were growing beside the Ulverscroft Brook.

After passing over Beacon Hill, I headed down a permissive path towards the Wood Brook valley, entering a wood with stunning displays of bluebells that again prompted me to take many pictures including while lying on the ground to get a close up of these wonderful flowers. I love a close up picture of bluebells because if you take a picture while standing up the bluebells seem to merge into a blue carpet, but when you get down to the level of the flower then you can begin to appreciate the delicate shape of the flower.

The best displays of bluebells on this walk are usually to be found in the Out Woods, but last year the sun had gone in when I entered the woods, so the carpets of bluebells were not being seen at their best. Eventually, however, the sun did come out and I took advantage of it to take some magical pictures of the swathes of bluebells that can be seen.

Two weeks later I was still not satisfied, so I went elsewhere in the Charnwood Forest to look for bluebells and to Burroughs Wood where a sea of bluebells can be seen in the spring. However, the season was now coming to an end and the bluebells in Burroughs Wood always seem to go to seed earlier than in other places in the Charnwood Forest. I was disappointed, but somewhat pacified by displays of stitchwort and there were still some bluebells that hadn’t started to go to seed yet. Moving on, I continued to look for bluebells in little corners that I remembered from previous years and eventually made my way onto the National Forest Way, following that into Martinshaw Wood, but the displays there were not great, though at least the sun had now come out. 

After crossing the A50 dual carriageway, I entered Lady Hay Wood, on the outskirts of Groby, where I found an extensive covering of bluebells that more than delighted me. I have previously enthused about the bluebells here and I knew that they are usually late, so would still be at their peak while those in Burroughs Wood had gone to seed. There is an opening in the wood that is covered in bluebells at this time of the year and I have taken fabulous pictures there before and I was able to lie flat on the ground and take more pictures at flower level of the tremendous display.

Hunting around revealed more bluebells that almost had me salivating over the stunning displays, until finally I turned around and headed back to the car park beside Burroughs Wood. The following Saturday I headed up to Scotland and there I found more bluebells in the wood behind Abbey Craig and the Wallace Monument, and that was the last time I saw bluebells in 2022, but soon bluebells will again be on display in woodlands across Britain and again I will be doing everything I can to see these amazing flowers in their woodland setting.