Bradfield Woods

There was a TV documentary a couple of months ago whch I only saw the tail end of, looking at Bradfield Woods. (You can find a summary of it on the BBC
Hands On Nature website). The woods are about 8 miles south-east of Bury St. Edmunds near the village of Felsham -here is a link to a map of the area. There is a car park and 3 signed walks of from 1/2 mile to 2 miles. We had been there in the winter and had a very muddy walk and decided to go back in the spring.

Today was just the day to do it. We got there by driving to Thurston, then to Beyton and on through Hesset towards Felsham. There is a right turn just before you get to Gedding.

This is one of England's finest ancient woodlands, and has been continuously managed at least since 1252. In the middle ages it was owned by Bury St. Edmunds Abbey. It has been a National Nature Reserve since 1994 and is now managed by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.

There is a fantastic variety of plants (about 370 species, apparently, which us a sign of how old it is). We went on the longest walk (C), which took us about 1 1/2 hours. There are great swathes of Wood Garlic...

...in places. But it was only towards the end of the walk that we came to large expanses of bluebells.

Along the way, we came across a number of flowers, some of which are shown on the bluebells picture - Early Purple Orchids, Yellow Archangel(?), Lord & Ladies, Unfurling ferns, Wood anenomes (mostly finished flowering - must go earlier next year to see them) and, hmm, this one has me stumped, some sort of fritillaria, I think.