It’s bluebell season baby!

I always forget just how much I love Spring. I’m a lover of all seasons really (which I guess isn’t a bad thing), but I always find the end of Winter very gloomy and the first signs of spring and brighter days always puts me in a great mood!

After having not used my camera since probably the last sunny day of summer, I was desperate to get my camera out again and practice some of the lessons I had learnt last year from my ‘A year with my Camera‘ workbook (it’s a fab beginners guide to how to use a DSLR, I would never have moved off auto mode without it).

Admittedly, I had forgotten everything I had learnt so there was a bit of trial and error, but by the end of the day, I think I did pretty well.

My Mum who is always up for a walk, and the dog Padfoot (who is also – unsurprisingly- always up for a walk), kept me company whilst we walked through what we call ‘bluebell woods’ and I snapped up lots of pictures.

Bluebell woods is correctly, and officially known as Prior’s Woods in Portbury. I’m very fortunate to live near it as it enabled us to have two trips in the same week! — Yes, yes we do love it that much. We also walked here a lot when there we local covid restrictions as we are able to get to it by foot too (or a 5-10 min drive).

On our first trip of the two visits to the bluebells, we were a little bit hesitant as to whether we might have been a bit early as when we followed the main path up to the entrance of the woods there were no bluebells to be seen. It was only as we got deeper into the woods we discovered the blankets of the purple flowers. I had almost reached the point where I thought that we were only going to see the odd bluebell here and there, and then; we were just in awe as we rounded the corner and there they were.

If you are going to visit, when you hit the first information signpost on the main path, take a left, and follow the purple signposts to find the bluebells.

With walking boots on, and my camera out and ready, Padfoot (my dog) knew exactly how to earn himself some attention and fusses. He is now a very good poser. I did take lots of photographs of him, but I’ll just show you a few so that you’re not endlessly scrolling.

Unfortunately, got a tick and I’m pretty sure I got it from this trip. But, don’t let that put you off, just be tick aware by checking yourself and making sure you know how to safely remove them! I’ve had a few before and thankfully a couple days later, my boyfriend Will was on hand to remove it for me (it was on the back of my knee so not the easiest angle to self-remove).

Overall, the first trip around the 5 kilometer walk took us over 3 hours due to the many photography stops, but Strava helpfully tells me that our moving time was an hour and 25 mins so if you aren’t planning to stop as much as I did it’ll take you probably just over the hour.

All in all, this scenic walk made a beautiful day out in the fresh air which was ideal for few hours playing with my camera. And then we went again a few days later!

---