Bluebells

Bluebells and lesser celandine.
Bluebells and lesser celandine.

We follow the footpaths through the woods around the grassy clearing at the centre of Middleton Woods, Leeds. The drifts of bluebells are at there best within sight of the woodland edge.

bluebellstreecreeperThese are our native bluebells, Scilla non-scripta, with drooping bells hanging down one side of the stem. The introduced Spanish bluebell, Scilla hispanica, is more robust and its bells point out from the stem in different directions.

A nuthatch is attracted to a sawn off tree trunk adapted as a bird table. nuthatchA nuthatch has the ability to make its way up or down a tree but the treecreeper that we see later makes its way steadily up a tree then flies to the next tree and starts near the bottom again.

It’s joined by its mate; one of the birds pops into a crevice where a limb has broken away from the trunk of a tree.

Middleton WoodstoadAs we stop to photograph a toad on the path I notice on a dead bough above our heads that a queen waspqueen wasp is busy scraping away at the exposed wood, gathering material to construct the papier mâche cells of its nest.