The Big Picture

MAGAZINE the BIG

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May is a wonderful month to enjoy our native wildflowers, including bluebells – a perennial favourite which sets our woodlands alight with a haze of richly fragrant, bright blue blooms. If you can’t get to a wooded area, look out for them growing in road verges, in small patches of woodland and in parks and gardens.

Did you know? • The UK is home to more than half the world’s population of bluebells – just one reason why their continued protection is really important. • Folklore used to tell that bluebells ring at daybreak to call fairies to the woods – keep an ear out! • Gum from bluebell roots was used to glue feathers to arrows – and, more recently, in bookbinding.

Visit your local Wildlife Trust’s website to discover where to see spring wildflowers in North Wales. With 35 nature reserves spread across the length and breadth of the region, there’s bound to be a magnificent display near you!

www.northwaleswildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-reserves

Image credit: Bluebells courtesy of Josh Raper, Conservation Media