Bluebell Hunt

Today starts with a bit of baking (bear in mind that it is Good Friday!) These will remain cinnamon buns, devoid of crosses (the work is too hard for the reward!), but spiced up with cinnamon and cassia from Penzey's Spices (a welcome and interesting gift from my daughter-in-law several years ago). Here I used a mixture of Korintje cassia (Indonesia grade A) and China Cinnamon (strong, sweet and spicy). You see the buns here proving for the second time, nearly ready for the oven. They turned out wonderfully delicious.

So, it being Easter, and a sunny day, we decided to go on a hunt for bluebells, to see if they had begun to appear. Our main photograph may give a clue to the answer...

We went to look in a Nature Reserve called Foxholes. The web description of the place includes this encouragement:

Foxholes nature reserve is a beautiful 165 acre BBOWT woodland and wet meadow that slopes gently down to the River Evenlode in West Oxfordshire. This wildlife haven is especially renowned for its spectacular spring bluebells and abundant bird life. The woodland is also known for the diverse range of fungi that thrive here. The woodland at Foxhole was once part of the ancient Wychwood Forest.

We have looked for this place in previous years, but been unsuccessful in locating it. It is near Shipton-under-Wychwood, and so about 30 minutes' drive from home. This year we found the place,and the search was well rewarded.

There were butterflies with white wings tipped with orange, and an abundance of wild flowers, such as

these violets

wood anenomes, primroses, and much else. Beautiful!

The bluebells are not really quite ready yet. Here is a general view of a part of the woods where some blue is beginning to show. It will be truly spectacular in a couple of weeks more. But there are definitely early flowers in bloom, as here and here.

This is how BBOWT have seen the woods! We shall probably go back quite soon to see if the reality matches this image.

And what other fauna did we find beyond the butterflies? Beezles, of course! Here's a fine specimen, more interested in grass than in us, part of a larger flock of woolly and enthusiastic (ovine) herbivores.