I’m not sure if Spring came early this year but two weeks ago we came across the best place to see bluebells in West London. We are fortunate that Ruislip Woods is our go to place for our state sanctioned daily exercise. We might be a little biased, but I think it is the best place to see bluebells in West London.
The best place to see bluebells in West London
Ruislip Woods is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and national nature reserve covering 726 acres in Ruislip, Hillingdon. The woods became the first national nature reserve in an urban area of England back in 1997. The reserve covers four woods: Park Wood, Mad Bess Wood and Copse Wood in Ruislip, along with Bayhurst Wood in Harefield.
We love living near Ruislip Woods and never get bored exploring all the different paths through it. Two weeks ago we went searching for bluebells and found the most amazing displays. Although bluebells can be found growing throughout Ruislip Woods, there are amazing clusters of them in Park Wood.
Tree Identification app from the Woodland Trust
The ancient woodland is full of a variety of trees English oak, sessile oak, hornbeam, beech, silver birch, aspen, rowan, hazel and holly. We’ve been using a free Tree Identification app from the Woodland Trust to help us identify the trees we see on our daily walks. You can identify trees by feature, including leaf or needle, flower, bark. When you’ve identified the tree you can add a photo and location, which is really handy if go on the same walk each day and your child forgets what they’ve identified!
Of course the woods are also full of beautiful wild flowers, birds and bugs. It’s such a lovely place to explore with or without kids, especially in the lovely weather we’ve been having. We were really careful not to touch the bluebells. Did you know they can take up to 5 years to recover if accidentally trodden on?
Spring can be a beautiful time of year and we were so pleased to have time to enjoy this wonderful display of nature on our doorstep. Have you spotted any bluebells displays where you live?
You’re so lucky to have somewhere as beautiful as that close by to you, the bluebells look beautiful x
The wrong side of London for me, but what a beautiful place to be able to visit x