In search of Snowdrops I walked out across frosty fields in Hertfordshire to Benington Lordship, a historic house in the village of Benington. It sits alongside the ruin of a far more ancient structure- an Anglo-Saxon castle. The grounds are noted for their drifts of Snowdrops.
 In some parts they gleam in the arc of the wintry sun but elsewhere they grow happily in the shade of the trees and buildings and in the hollows of the earthworks that once defined the castle and its moat. In these places the heavy frost remained unmelted; living up to their name the stems stood and the flowers nodded completely unaffected by the biting cold they were subject to.
 These are our "common" Snowdrop Galanthus nivalis. Snowdrops can be considered wild by virtue of their habit of naturalising and proliferating in spots that suit them (including my back garden though on a smaller scale!). The colony at Benington is none the less an introduction by a previous owner who planted some in the early twentieth century: conditions clearly suited them.
 Snowdrops are found across the UK in woods and hedgerows as well as gardens. They might be native to this island but they tend to be found in areas where human habitation has likely played a part in the recent or distant past. It seems a credible theory that they were first imported and planted by religious orders at monastic sites around the 10th. and 11th. centuries.
 NB See also my entry from 13th. February 2017 concerning the Snowdrops in the grounds of Ankerwyke Priory for more on this.