Bluebells in the Forest

A bluebell wood is a wood that in spring-time has a carpet of bluebells underneath a newly forming leaf canopy. The thicker the summer canopy, the more competitive ground-cover is suppressed, encouraging a dense carpet of bluebells, whose leaves mature and die down by early summer. Bluebell woods may be found in all parts of Great Britain and Ireland, as well as elsewhere in Europe. Bluebells are a common indicator species for ancient woodland, so bluebell woods are likely to date back to at least 1600.