If you go down to the woods today...

Current work: Cherish romance (aka M&B #57 - working title 'Me and You and a Dog Named Baloo')
Listening to: Beethoven
Reading: Eliza Graham, The History Room (enjoying) and Jojo Moyes, The Girl You Left Behind
Gym: 121 (weights and cardio)

Yesterday, I wanted to go and find a bluebell carpet. DH was difficult about it, saying that we’d been to Foxley and Blickling plenty of times before. But eventually he decided we’d go to a patch of ancient woodland, i.e. Ashwellthorpe Lower Wood.

Cue a wander through woodlands to the sound of birdsong and no traffic. Just gorgeous.

And we found bluebells :o)

Plus a dramatic tree.

We also found a carpet of white flowers we didn’t recognise. I thought they were a form of allium (we’ve grown alliums before, but blue ones because I like blue flowers and I’m in charge of bulbs), plus we could smell garlic in the air. The noticeboard back at the car park said that they were either ransom or wood anemones. A little bit of net research told me that they were ransom – aka allium ursinum. Why the link with bears (ursa)? Apparently brown bears liked eating them and digging them up. These flowers are apparently associated with patches of bluebells, and in such situations they are an indicator of ancient woodland. So there you go. Nerdy facts for the day :o)