Woodland Wander

Creativity has been in short supply in recent times. I hadn’t realised how much I rely on people watching, and being out of the house, to stimulate ideas. However, the advice is clear. Stay at home. Which is what we’ve been doing. To supplement their daily garden time, I took the dogs for a woodland wander during the week. We’re fortunate to have a nature reserve within a couple of minutes’ walk of where we are.

It wasn’t a time to take my camera; I wanted to focus both on the dogs and on avoiding other walkers. This is where having a reactive dog has its advantages. A couple of deep woofs from our shepherd and people tend to retreat to a safe distance.

I did take some mobile telephone photos though, which I thought I’d share in this post. I hope they might bring some visual relief to counteract the news and interminable social media streams about what people are eating for lunch. Or tea. Or a midnight snack.

Wood anemone carpets many of the untrodden areas of the woods. The plant spreads through root growth, typically flowering between March and May, when the canopy is less dense. It’s certainly a very bright addition to the assorted greenery which winds through the tree trunks.

Less prolific, the celandine. A low growing member of the buttercup family, the celandine is also known as pilewort. There’s something particularly uplifting about the colour yellow; perhaps because it reminds us of sunshine.

Grape hyacinths are another of my favourites. Their vibrant blue spikes brighten any setting, and it was lovely to find this pair striking a pose among the ivy. 

In the more open area, a solitary cowslip. Named from the old English for cow dung, cowslips are a common feature of pasture lands in the spring time. The name derives from their tendency to grow in fields of grazing cattle.

Then, the hedgerows – bursting with the blossom of blackthorn. I used to confuse blackthorn with hawthorn, and remember my mother putting me right many occasions on our springtime walks. The blackthorn flowers before the leaves, and hawthorn later in the spring, once its leaves are present. Hawthorn is also known as May, the month in which it tends to be in flower.

And finally, the dogs. Lively, eager to please, and great company for walks.

If you enjoy the woods, but can’t get out at the moment, have a look at the Woodland Trust website. It’s well worth a browse for information on trees, woods, and wildlife; the Loch Arkaig osprey camera can be particularly fascinating!

Until next time, from our home to yours, take care, and stay safe.