April, and finally there is breathing space between downpours of rain, enabling a ray of hope that the muddy paths of Finemere Wood may dry up sometime soon.

The woodland workers have been slipping and sliding around their workplace in many a rain shower for months now. Those whom I have regarded as fully hardy specimens are beginning to succumb to the effects of adverse weather, I fear they may morph into tender beings.

And so a warm and sunny day in the wood was a blessing, energising all into a frenzy of activity.

Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) is one species thriving in Finemere Wood in these soggy, swampy times. A plant of damp meadows and the banks of streams, it has flourished along the edges of ditches full to bursting with water.

These pretty pale-pink flowers with veined petals will grow to 30-50cm tall and, although they may look delicate, cuckooflower is an extremely resilient plant. It blooms at the time we expect the call of the first cuckoo and thus it was named.

Cardamine pratensis flowers from April to June providing an important nectar source for several pollinators. It is the main larval food plant for the orange tip butterfly, many of which have been seen fluttering along the woodland edges in recent days.

The day is spent tidying up the accumulated clutter throughout the woodland. Fences, no longer necessary, have been dismantled resulting in piles of panels, mesh, and stakes.

Tree guards have done their job and are now littering the ground. An old charcoal burner is rescued from deep within a tangle of scrub. This debris must be hauled back to the car park and loaded onto the waiting trailer. Those still requiring a workout after this, wheel barrows of aggregate along the track to fill potholes.

A hard day's work, but a reward at the end of the day as the volunteers take time to drink in the beauty of the bluebells. Stunning as always and in full bloom a good three weeks earlier than usual, it is the perfect way to end a day out in the woods.

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