Country diary: Enjoy the riot of bluebells while you can | Tolga Aktas

Highnam, Gloucestershire: A fruitful visit to an RSPB reserve, including thrushes, wrens and signs of badgers and deer. But many people come for the flower showThere was consistent rainfall here throughout April and early May, so it has taken me a little while to go to my favourite woods near my rented cottage in Churcham. But the better weather has finally arrived. The local children are also back in school, so the only noise in RSPB Highnam Woods comes from songbirds and the machinery in the neighbouring agricultural fields.Spring has sprung late here this year, but the reserve seems to be making up for lost time, with cuckooflowers and wood anemones in abundance, and the ancient woodland in full leaf. A wren flies past and lands near the base of a bramble branch, allowing me to notice something else - the tyre marks left by the RSPB's work vehicles, which have collected rainwater, providing homes for countless tadpoles. Continue reading...