Snowdrops

We are fortunate in having a very fine display of snowdrops in Bridgend Woods. They start in late January and usually last at least a month.
Malcolm

Snowdrops and Elf Cups

Taken before the snowdrops really opened up but in a veritable elf world! The ground was awash with white and red!
Becky

Snowdrops and Scarlet Elf Cups

Comfrey - Bridgend Woods

Claggan Strip

A lovely circular walk through Bridgend Woods at this time of year.

Wood Avens

Not fully out.  Bridgend Woods.

This is possibly the hybrid between Wood Avens (Geum urbanum) and Water Avens (G.rivale) as the former has yellow upright flowers and the latter has pink nodding flowers. It's been recorded on Islay a few times.

Green veined white and Orange Tip butterflies

Bridgend Woods.  We also saw a male Orange tip butterfly.

Rhododendron ponticum

Bridgend Woods

Bluebells - Hyacinthoides non-scripta

Bridgend Woods earlier today

Roe Deer and Snowdrops - James Deane

Lovely shot of a pair of Roe deer in a carpet of snowdrops taken by James Deane in Bridgend Woods.  Thanks James!

Wild snowdrops?

The snowdrops now adorning the banks of the burn in Port Charlotte are an altogether daintier version of the flower than those in my garden, or, I would suggest, in Bridgend Woods.  Carl

Hurricane Damage in Bridgend Woods

Some of the trees that have blown over are very large indeed

They have not always blown over in exactly convenient locations.  This one is lying across the River Sorn.

The paths are still blocked in lots of places.  A saw would have been handy....

In some places it seems that there are more trees blown down than left standing....

The full hurricane that Islay experienced last week has brought down literally hundreds of trees in Bridgend Woods.  The work of clearing them from the paths is well under way (although is far from complete...).  The work of clearing them from the main body of the woods will of course take much longer.  We must hope that the work is not done too efficiently as there are few things better for improving biodiversity than lots of fallen timber...
Carl

Snowdrops in Bridgend Woods

Anecdotal evidence would suggest that the snowdrops are out earlier this year.  They are not at their best yet, but are well on the way....

Woodland Wonders

We had great fun matching colours on our 'Nature's Rainbow' sheets yesterday in Bridgend Woods, with some people being more fussy than others about exact matches! We noticed Sycamore, Beech, Hazel, Elm and Ash Trees. We also saw Grey Wagtail, Spotted Flycatcher, Wren, Chaffinch and Goldfinch. Butterflies we saw were Meadow Brown and Green-veined White and we saw Golden-ringed and Common Hawker dragonflies and Common Blue and Large Red Damselflies. In the River Sorn we saw lots of baby Trout. This beautiful flower is a Common Centaury which I've normally seen growing at the coast.
Becky

Isi with Nature's Rainbow

Common Centaury - Centauruim erythraea

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) - Gordon Homer

Thanks to Gordon for this shot of a Speckled Wood shot (in the nicest possible sense) in Bridgend Woods.

Snowdrops in Bridgend - Gael and Colin Roy

Many thanks to Colin and Gael for this shot of the snowdrops lining the ride through the policies in Bridgend.  Taken yesterday during the sunshine it is a pleasant reminder of the glimpse of Spring we had before the rain started lashing against the windows again today....

Uisinn (Fraxinus excelsior)

Uisinn is the Gaelic name for the Ash tree - (the fourth commonest tree in Britain apparently - although I am not sure who has checked and how...).  These are the seeds, or 'keys' of an Uisinn seen growing in Bridgend Woods.  Every Primary school child is told how clever Mother Nature has been to devise these clever winged seeds so that the tree's progeny can be spread far and wide on the wind.  I was never impressed by this argument as a boy - anyone who has ever tried to make an ash key fly on the breeze will soon deduce that they are aerodynamically hopeless. 
Ash keys however, are slightly better fliers than the keys of the Sycamore, which although they make brilliant spinning aerofoils when you break them from their siblings, almost always fall off the tree as conjoined pairs - which have the aerodynamic qualities of your average brick.  Strange thing, nature...
Carl

Bridgend Woods

Bridgend Woods contain probably the biggest stands of mixed woodland on Islay.  I understand that they were planted in the nineteenth century to provide shelter for Islay House and create the woodland rides for the gentry's carriages.  There were also sporting considerations of course, with Rhododendrons being planted for pheasant cover and the river banks managed for salmon fishermen.  There are now good numbers of mature trees - this is a beech.

The woods stretch all the way to Port Askaig, basically following the course of the River Sorn.  They border some of Islay's best agricultural land

The woods can be very quiet at this time of year.  We saw a couple of Ravens and a Buizzard when we first set off and had a glimpse of a Sparrowhawk later on, but there were very few small birds around.  You usually encounter a mixed tit flock at some point during a walk - but not today.  We saw a Roe deer as the light faded away.  Nice branch of lichen.

The trees represent a valuable resource for the estate - and they are managed for timber.

The snowdrops are almost with us.  I believe that Bridgend Woods have one of the largest displays of snowdrops anywhere in the UK.  Another week and they will be spectacular.