I love this time of year. The evenings have both light and warmth and puppy walks are so much more enjoyable than they were a few months ago! There are some lovely walks we can take from our house but our favourite is in Ruislip Woods. We noticed the first bluebells a few weeks ago so went off searching for bluebells in Ruislip Woods.

Searching for bluebells in Ruislip Woods

Ruislip Woods National Nature Reserve is the largest block of ancient, semi-natural woodland in Greater London and include one of the most extensive oak/hornbeam coppice woods in southeast England. It’s made up of four extensive woodlands, Park Wood, Copse Wood, Mad Bess Wood and Bayhurst Woods. We can easily get into Park Wood via Bury Street and there are numerous paths you can follow through the woods to the colonies of bluebells in the woodlands.

Bluebell season is typically from mid-April to the end of May. There is already a stunning display of native bluebells in the woods. You don’t need to search hard for them.

They are so pretty in the evening light and we have a good few more weeks to enjoy the carpet of bluebells.

As well as the gorgeous purple bluebells, we also spotted a few rogue white ones.

Park Woods is a really lovely place to walk. It’s usually quite quiet, or just big enough that you don’t really bump into other people. My daughter loves to run around it, and was happy to discover some fantastic den building opportunities too.

We also found painted rocks, which we were able to re-hide for others to find. We stopped for a few photos before everyone else discovers they are out. Bluebell colonies are protected so we made sure to tread very carefully. Did you know they take time to recover if damaged and it’s also illegal to pick them!