Churchyard Nature Note with Andrew Tompsett
May 2010
Dreaming of bluebells
Summer is here; it’s bluebell time. After
the primroses come the bluebells and nothing is more evocative of Britain in
May-time than a sea of blue beneath the trees. They are a British speciality which
no other country can match, thanks to our cool, moist climate andthe slow progress
of spring.
After several name changes the native bluebell now has the logical name Hyacinthoides non-scriptaa member of
the lily family Its bulbs are very longlived
so that, in the damper west, it still
occupies places where woods existed
long ago.
Recent publicity has featured the risk to
ournative bluebell from two alien plants which are more dominant and threaten
the more delicate species, but in different ways. These are the Spanish bluebell and the Wild garlic, knownas the ‘Three
corned leek'.
’The former, a robust introduction to gardens,has escaped into the wild where
it cross-pollinates with wild bluebells to produce hybrids which are vigorous, less graceful and paler. The latter, another introduction from the Mediterranean, has the appearance of a white ‘bluebell’ –
that is, until you smell it! It is increasing rapidly in the West Country and tending to
smother many other wild flowers. In many places such as Maningham woods
and the churchyard we are trying to eradicateit before it takes too strong a
hold.
If we want the dreamy blue scene in our May-time woodlands to continue we must be awareof these threats. As it is, our bluebells tread a narrow survival line
since, growing mainly in woodlands, a climatic change which advances the tree canopy could shade out the wild
flowers beneath. Our Tehidy Country Park
rangers are well aware of this and have a management plan to widen some of the rides and glades to admit more light. This in turn will be beneficial for other wildlife,
especially insects.
As several of our older churchyard trees
have had to be removed we can expect
to see an improved show of bluebells
in the coming years.
