Bluebells @ Walderslade Woods!

 

Late Sunday morning saw Dad and me head along the road to Walderslade Woods to find more Bluebells. Really impressed, there were loads, easy to get the distinct "carpet" effect. These are a few bluebells and greater stitchwort (the white flowers) with a Topaz buzz split tone filter effect applied via Photoshop.

The woods split across both sides of a main road but we found most of them seemed to grow more on one side, fortunately the side which isn't prone to what looks like motorbike routes/jumps or whatever and a far hillier walking experience. 

Bearing in mind that we haven't been able to park at the usual main entrance at Ranscombe to go find the bluebells there this year and Walderslade Woods is literally on the doorstep, this seems to be a good place to find them next year too!

The traditional "carpet" view of the bluebells focusing on a tree stump in the middle of this bunch.

Slightly wider viewpoint and focused on the tree to my left throws the flowers nicely out of focus thus accentuating the colour.

Another Topaz Buzz split tone filter applied here, same as the first image, creating a painterly effect.

So all in all a good find as it can be hard to track down decent places to find these elusive spring flowers where there aren't crowds or you got to pay to get in to see them.

Whilst I enjoy snapping my own garden variety of these flowers, they are what's commonly referred to as the Spanish Bluebell which is not the same as these wild ones, which are far more delicate and are proper flower bells.

Found this on Google explaining the difference between the Spanish Bluebell which many of us have in the garden, a hybrid (undesirable as it can undermine and take over the native English Bluebell) and of course the original English Bluebell which is what we expect to see growing in the woodlands and is protected, meaning that it is illegal to dig up these plants.

Disclaimer: all photos shot from the safety of the pathways through the woods - no bluebells were harmed in the taking of these images!