Saltwells Nature Reserve is famed for its English bluebells, found in shady places usually under deciduous trees, such as in woodlands and hedgerows.
The flowering period is generally between mid-April and late May but can vary from year to year by several weeks depending on the severity of the preceding winter.
The flowers are loved by visitors young, old and in between, and also by the bees which pollenate them. However did you know that some bees cheat and bite through the base of the flower to drink the nectar, missing the pollen?
Bluebells spread by both setting seed and by bulbs dividing. The seeds are shiny and black about 1-2mm in diameter and take between 4-6 years to grow from seed into a flowering bulb. The bulbs are a creamy white colour and about the size of a marble.
The English bluebell only grows naturally in UK, Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Portugal and Spain. However almost half of the world’s population grows in the UK.
However the English bluebell is at risk. The destruction of deciduous woodlands across Britain has caused a loss of habitat for them and, as the climate is warming, trees are coming into leaf earlier which means that the bluebells get less time to convert the early spring sunshine to feed their bulbs before they are shaded by the tree canopies.
Help us to protect our native bluebells by enjoying them from a distance. Take photographs but please leave the flowers to bloom and flourish.
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