Of all of our plants, one flower both evokes and crowns the annual spectacular of spring– the bluebell. In the woods, on the hills and along the by-ways of RCT the bluebell colonies are stirring. The carpets of lush, almost succulent leaves of innumerable bluebells have formed dense carpets. Within April, the flower spikes of ‘blue bells’ will burst forth. As the trilling song of the wood warbler returns the bluebells will begin to flower, at first in ones and twos but then accelerating, as spring reaches a crescendo, into the azure haze of thousands of flowering spikes.

The bluebell wood in full bloom is the epitome of our spring, the final banishment of winter winds and the promise of early summer. It is also a natural phenomenon which is almost uniquely confined to the British Isles. In mainland Europe bluebells occur, but not in the exquisite multitudes which we enjoy. Luckier still the bluebell is not only restricted to woods in Wales. It is equally at home on our valleysides and hedgebanks. If you lift your eyes, the blue haze high on the sides of the ffridd can be enjoyed from a bus stop in town or the traffic jam of a May morning.

The bluebell is protected in law, but in RCT its biggest threat is through hybridisation with the blousier, non-native garden or Spanish bluebell. This is a particularly a problem where urban edge woodlands are used for dumping garden rubbish. Pick a fair day in late April or May and take a leisurely stroll through your nearest patch of bluebells and remember to stop.