I seem to spend an increasing amount of time in my car, driving from pillar to post (desperately environmentally unfriendly I realise, but very friendly as far as my clients are concerned). Despite this, one of the real pleasures at this time of year, and I know I have mentioned it before, is the arrival of spring. I remember years ago when I first came and lived in Hampshire a friend mentioned having a picnic in the woods on May Bank Holiday surrounded by bluebells. That was about 1996. Since then I have seen the bluebells arrive earlier and earlier, but finally this year I think they would have enjoyed repeating the experience. We have a number of bluebell woods in this area; there is nothing to beat the sight of the sky being reflected at ground level. It is almost Dali-like in its surprise. Topping the rise of a hill and seeing the sky below you only to realise that they are not trees floating unanchored in the clouds but sheets of bluebells interspersed by blooms of wild garlic.
In addition to the bluebells frequenting our woods, I cannot help but notice how many cowslips we now have; both on the banks of the motorways (where they outnumber the primroses) and in some of the chalk land around us. Near the Sixpenny Handley roundabout, where there is some intermittently grazed pasture, the fields have literally been covered with them. As a child (a very very long time ago) I remember the excitement of finding them peeking out of long grass beside a track; even then they were uncommon. Now they are even prepared to seed themselves in my vegetable garden!
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