Bluebells in London & Wanstead Park

Every Spring I look forward to seeing bluebells. They are a classic British symbol of Spring. As a child I used to pick armfuls of them, but now they are a protected species.

Easter 2022 I spent 2 days looking for bluebells. Firstly I went to Harvington Woods near Kelsey Park, but there were hardly any, and most of those I saw were the invasive Spanish bluebells. So I gave up there. Having googled for bluebells in London, I read that Oxleas Woods at Shooters Hill were a good place. So in the afternoon I went there. Found a few patches, but it wasn't the large carpet of flowers that I was hoping for.

So it was back to Mr Google. That evening I saw an online news report about how Good Friday was the warmest day of the year, and that article showed a photo of bluebells in Wanstead Park. So I read up on that and decided to go on Easter Saturday.

I took the train to Redbridge. There I was confronted by the enormous roundabout with the very busy North Circular road crossing over it on high bridges. Fortunately there is a pedestrian subway underneath that lot.

View of the North Circular roads inside the huge roundabout

I then started walking down the River Roding trail, which is on the east side of the river. I soon realised I had to walk the whole length of the park before getting to a bridge over the river. I finally got into the park. I saw a sign to the grotto so headed for that. 

I later read that the grotto is a ruined boathouse from about 1762. It is a Grade II listed building. See details on Wanstead wildlife and also on Historic England. The boathouse pond -

From here I finally got into some woods and saw bluebells. I was happy. Although there was not the huge carpet as depicted in the previous day's news story. At least they were all the classic native British bluebell, not a Spanish one in sight.

I took loads of photos. Bluebells are a sign of ancient woodlands. Wanstead Woods is part of Epping Forest, which is a large woodland between Greater London and Essex.

Leaving the woods, I came out into the park. This is The Temple, built in 1760. It is a remnant of  Wanstead House, built in Tuscan style from ancient Rome.

I then noticed a patch of blue in nearby woods and went to investigate and realised this is the main area of bluebells. It was the huge carpet of blue that I had been looking for over the last 2 days. The large area had a path around it, to keep visitors away from the flowers.

The bluebell or Wild Hyacinth, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, has a bell shaped flower that droops, like the top of a shepherd's crook. The flowers are narrow and have rolled back tips. They have a slight sweet scent.

The invasive Spanish bluebells, Hyacinthoides hispanica, have upright stems and the conical bell shaped flowers  have open tips. There is no scent.

Bluebells are connected with a lot of folklore stories and fairies. It is believed that if you pick a bluebell you will be led astray by fairies and will wander lost forever. Fortunately this never happened to me as a child!

See more on bluebells on Woodland Trust .