Bluebell – Grantham Ecology

2018 in Wildflowers

December 28, 2018January 19, 2019Grantham EcologyLeave a comment

As anybody who follows my twitter feed will know, wildflowers are a constant source of inspiration and fascination for me. Here are a few of my favourite finds from 2018

FKEU6697 — This tiny forget-me-not is called changing forget-me-not because of the way the petal colour changes as the flowers mature – they start off yellow/cream and brighten to blue in time

SYJC9411 — Red campion is a common wildflower in the midlands, especially in shady habitats like hedgerows and woodland edges. It can be a beautifully architectural plant

PHMS4033 — Wood sorrel is a woodland wildflower of early spring – this was taken in the Quantock Hills in a pine plantation.

VKRS5149 — Wood anemone are a characteristic indicator of ancient woodland – spreading at a rate of only a few metres per year, they are testement to the continuity of the habitat

ELLM5983 — Green winged orchids are one of the first to flower in the spring – I am lucky enough to live very close to Muston Meadows which has a stunning display each year

DEMF9746 — An ancient woodland in South Wales rewarded me with herb paris this year – the first time I’ve seen this species in perfect flower in the UK

FSYT1381 — Pasque flowers are a real rarity these days, but are emblamatic enough to be the designated County Flower of two different counties in England. This one taken at Barnack Hills and Holes NNR

JVRC6199 — A sea of English Bluebells with a mighty fallen oak branch to lend character to the sunlit scene

OMEK8236 — Oxlip is one of our rarest wildflowers – the ancient woodland of Hayley Wood near Cambridge is one of the best places to enjoy them amongst the bluebells

BWBX9330 — There can be few sights more synonymous with springtime that the white of greater stitchwort and the bright blue of the bluebell amongst the fresh green leaves

EUVX4196 — The limestone grasslands which punctuated the Peddar’s Way in May rewarded us with these salad burnet – tiny red stars set within a globular flower head

FEKJ0714 — A trip to see the fly orchids in Bedford Purleius NNR has become something of an annual tradition now – they never fail to delight!

JWXG2736 — A new species for me this year and a wonderful treasure hunt to find it – violet helleborine in Bedford Purleuis NNR

BSQT8448 — Small but stunning – the arable flora on St Mary’s, Scilly away from the industrial scale agriculture of the mainland meant a host of scarce arable wildflowers persist, such as this small-flowered catchfly

MXEM3555 — Yellow bartsia – a relative of yellow rattle and eyebright – was another first for me on the Isles of Scilly

LNOZ7092 — Pale toadflax established on a railway arch near the Thames

VYSS5123 — Black nightshade is a member of the same family as potato and tomato and could be found flowering right up until Christmas!

Wild snake’s head fritillaries flowering in Portholme Meadow, Huntingdon

Cowslips flowering along the cycle path which passes along the Grantham Canal in early springtime

Harebell flowering in the dry grasslands in the meadows above Grantham

Early purple orchid amongst the bluebells and greater stitchwort flowers in a woodland edge in Lincolnshire

Where to see bluebells near Grantham

May 17, 2012Grantham Ecology2 Comments

There are a few woods around Grantham where you can go and see wild bluebells. I saw a few plants flowering as early as the end of March when we had the week or two of glorious weather, but the majority are looking beautiful now in May.

Belvoir Woods, accessed by footpath from Stathern, a village several miles to the west of Grantham, is a good location to see carpets of bluebells within the woods – this is where the photographs on this page were taken. The map below shows where within the woods the largest abundances can be found.

Belton House, the National Trust property to the north-east of Grantham also has them in their woodland beside the river. You need to pay entry to get into the house and gardens unless you are a National Trust member (but, it goes without saying, it’s well worth it!)

Location of Belton House, just outside Grantham

This Sunday, the 20^th of May, Harlaxton College will open its woods to the public to see the bluebells there. The college is based at the large manor just outside Harlaxton, visible on the left of the A607 as you leave Grantham heading west. The college is an outpost of the American University of Evansville. Access is through the village and the woods are open between 1pm and 3pm.

Location of Harlaxton Manor, just outside Grantham

For other locations of bluebell woods, why not check out the National Trust’s Bluebell Map here.

For more info on the difference between native and Spanish bluebells, have a look at my recent post here.

What’s the difference between English and hybrid-Spanish bluebells?

May 16, 2012May 3, 2017Grantham Ecology11 Comments

Native bluebells are almost synonymous with English springtime, there is little more distinctive and evocative than the haze of blue they spread across a woodland floor. However the native English bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), is not the only bluebell we have. The Spanish bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica) was introduced as a garden flower and can produce fertile hybrids with the natives – indeed the true Spanish bluebell is relatively rarely encountered but many hybrid Spanish bluebells occur especially in and close to gardens. Below is a brief illustrative guide to help you tell the difference.

1. Look at the leaves

Native bluebells have relatively thin leaves, around 1-1.5cm wide. Spanish and hybrid-Spanish bluebells tend to have much thicker leaves, around 3cm wide. The leaves of the Spanish and hybrid-Spanish bluebell often have a fleshier feel to them.

Bluebells and Newts5.jpg — Showing the difference in size between the leaves of native bluebell (left) and hybrid-Spanish bluebell (right), both with a 50p for scale.

2. Look at the flowers

Native bluebells are a distinctive deep-blue in colour, whereas Spanish and hybrid-Spanish bluebells are often lighter, more pale blue or pink. Look also at the shape of the flowers, the native bluebell flowers curl back at the petal tips whilst those of the Spanish and hybrid-Spanish bluebells are splayed. If you get down close, look at the colour of the anthers; these are cream in natives and tend to be a pale-blue colour in the Spanish and hybrid-Spanish, although they can be cream coloured in white or pink flowers.

Bluebells and Newts3.jpg — Showing the difference in flower shape between native bluebell (left) and hybrid-Spanish bluebell (right)

Bluebells and Newts2.jpg — Showing the difference in anther colour between native bluebell (left) and hybrid-Spanish bluebell (right)

3. Look at the architecture

Native bluebells have the flowers concentrated on just one side of the stem, giving them the distinctive nodding, drooping look. Spanish and hybrid-Spanish bluebell flowers are on all sides of the flower spike, giving the flower a much more upright appearance.

Bluebells and Newts4.jpg — Showing the difference in flower structure between native bluebell (left) and hybrid-Spanish bluebell (right)

4. Sniff the flowers!

You should be able to pick up a sweet aroma from the flowers of the native bluebell whilst those of the Spanish and hybrid-Spanish bluebell are generally scentless.

5. Still unsure?

The two species hybridise, and can back-hybridise to create plants more like one of the two true species at either end than the ‘standard’ hybrid. This means there can be a wide variation in characteristics making a confident ID difficult at times – however distinguishing the native from non-native is usually fairly straightforward using the characteristics above. Hybridisation with native bluebells is one of the most significant threats that the Spanish bluebells pose to the natives.

I put together a crib which shows the key characteristics of the typical English bluebells below – hopefully this will provide an useful visual aid! However the detail provided in this blog by Cumbria Botany is perhaps the most comprehensive illustrations of the two species and the hybrids in between. The BSBI crib is also valuable, but the text and terminology doesn”t make it very accessible to a beginner!