"I don't believe it!"

 When I uttered the words " I doubt that I'll take any photos today as we're only going to be going through bluebell woods" I truly meant them. David raised his eyebrows with an expression which could only be interpreted as 'I don't believe it' and even though he may not have actually uttered those words it turns out he was right. We were doing a Fancy Free walk in the nearby village of Billingshurst....it was too hard to resist💕

This stunner is a Speckled Wood and was just warming its wings in the sunshine. It was very obliging and just stayed put to allow me to get close enough. Normally any butterfly which sees me is off like a shot!

I lived in this village for a few years as a child, but it's changed enormously and many things are new or unfamiliar to me. The gatepost with its beautiful original and elegant glass finials, the Victorian pub [which I initially thought might be 1930s with its Art Deco lines] and the house with those bays on the side [any idea what they might have been for? I've drawn a blank] all caught my eye on the way down.

My favourite colour of those I see belonging to the Horse Chestnut. It's not actually a native tree, but introduced and it originated in the Balkan Peninsula. When the leaves fall in the autumn they leave a horse shoe shaped scar on the twig [source the Woodland Trust].

It wasn't long before we made it into the woods and as you can see below I did stop to take a single photo of the bluebells. I discovered recently that they are also known as Wild Hyacinths which isn't really a great stretch of the imagination when you examine them closely. They bear more than a passing resemblance to the cultivated variety. The first part of the footpath on this route runs between two fences and look what I found behind one of them. Someone's very own Dingly Dell.... animals and fairies galore. I like those homemade houses and castles. It worked without tipping over into twee.

The woods were everything an English wood in the Spring should be. The wild flowers are really coming out now and it was with absolute joy that I spotted my first Early Purple Orchid of the season.

As we meandered back through the modern housing estate, built upon the fields of my youth, we came across these two sculptures. I went in search of them last year and wrote about my visit here https://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/2024/03/all-work-and-no-plays-makes-for-very.html I managed to miss both of these though. No matter they were there for me to find this time round instead.

Arilx