Last week on Saturday morning, my alarm clock rang very early again: at 4:30. Many people don’t like getting up so early. They even don’t like getting up earlier than necessary or earlier than on a weekday morning. Me, usually, too. But, sometimes, the plans say different. So, this weekend: getting up early, drinking one coffee, having a shower, and jumping in the car.
Depending on the general temperatures of spring, around mid-April, the bluebells start blooming and their blooming time only lasts about 3-4 weeks. They depend on loose and nutrient-rich soil and must not become overgrown with bushes. The flowering cycle must be finished before the canopy of the surrounding deciduous trees closes and no light reaches the ground anymore. Although they were very common in Europe after the last ice age, they are very rare now, except in England and Wales. This small (tiny) forest is about 1,5 hour’s drive away from my home. Thus, I had to get up early if I want to be there at sunrise. And it’s only a very small timeslot to find rich blooming ground as well as not too dense foliage.
This forest is a nature-protected area. So, leaving the few paths is not allowed. I’m fine with that rule. But, there are many others not caring about it. The locals usually complain about the reckless visitors. When I was there for the first time, besides me only a few joggers were passing by. During my second visit, 10-15 photographers were also there, most of them equipped with apparently good equipment and a tripod. But, they should know better. When walking through the flowers to get ‘better’ spots / sights, they are trampling down the flowers and compacting the ground to make it next year harder for the flowers to breakthrough. They withdraw their energy into the onions. When I was there last year for my third visit, only very few flowers were blooming. Because of the cold weather, nature was way behind normal development. This year the timing was perfect. Many, many blooming flowers were covering the forest ground. Even from the parking ground about approximately 200 m away as the bird flies, I was able to see the blue glowing in the forest. And only a couple of quite well-behaving dog photographers (dog among the bluebells) were there. But, it was still quite full for the small area.
In the end, I was back at home at about 10:00. Time for breakfast!.
Take care
MyBlog - solaner 
I usually wake up about 5 am these days so 4:30 isn’t too much earlier. When we go to California, we leave by 4:30 to avoid traffic, at least on the Phoenix end of things. There’s always lots of traffic in California. When I get up, if it’s a walking day, I head out as soon as possible. I like to walk at dawn before the sun actually comes up but it’s so early now that it’s a lot more difficult than in winter!! But for this scene, I’d certainly be up early and the enjoy breakfast later. 🙂
Thanks, Janet. For years, my alarm clock rang at 5:25, nowadays at 6:00, weekends usually at 8:30. but most people here don’t get up thar early, at least not voluntarily. The core team of my photography friends consists of 10 people. Only one of them was willing to join me. 😮I can understand very easily, getting up early when it is not that hot already is a very good habit when living in hot countries an have a siesta during the hottest time of the day. When going on vacation, I also start at about 6:00 to be ahead of the traffic jams. Breakfast is usually planned for the first stop after about a 2 hours drive. My wife hates these days.
I’m not an early riser but I too would definitely give up on sleep for this absolutely magical scene; especially when bluebells were to be concerned too. Beautiful.
Thank you so much, and, yes, morning light is magical 😊