FAMILIES visited one of Tendring’s best surviving woodlands for a unique floral experience.

Vibrantly-coloured bluebells carpeted the grounds of Weeleyhall Wood Nature Reserve, in Weeley, where guided walks took place in honour of one of England’s most popular flowers.

Several Essex Wildlife Trust nature reserves hosted visitors to celebrate the distinctive bluebell, to which the UK is home to almost half the world’s population.

With only a short window of time to enjoy them, between mid-April and late May, it was a busy day for event organiser, David Bain, and Colne Point and Great Holland Pits reserves warden, Bob Seago.

Mr Seago, who led a guided walk, said: “Everyone was extremely pleased. The event has run annually for the past 40 years but this was the highest turnout which we believe was largely down to social media.

“The Essex Wildlife Trust Tendring Local Group now has a Facebook group which has gained a lot of popularity and people visited us from much further afield who had seen the event online.

“The bluebells were particularly good this year but this may have been down to luck as to when the event had been planned.

“Our guides had fun teaching people about the ancient woodland and coppicing management, plus the storms of 1987 which had a big impact on the woodland.”