The Snowdrop season is always a joy because they are the first plants to flower en masse as late winter heads towards spring. Others like Hellebores and Winter Aconites are also early bloomers but not on the scale of large colonies of Snowdrops. Bees come out of hibernation to forage on them.

 Galanthus are tough, enduring the worst winter can throw at them.

 The Common Snowdrop (G. nivalis) is the most widespread and is generally thought of as one of our woodland wildflowers. Gardeners have introduced other species to the UK; in fact there seems to be a strong case for saying that G. nivalis is an introduction that has spread into the wild.

 When I see a colony of Snowdrops it is generally in the vicinity of habitation. For example the copse shown above contained the remains of an old cottage. A stream runs beside it and Snowdrops grow along the bank for several hundred yards downstream. I wonder if some cottager once planted a few bulbs and they have persisted long after the cottage has gone?

  There is a theory that Snowdrops were brought over from the continent to be planted at monastic sites in Norman times. The Snowdrop was associated with Candlemas Day on February 2nd. and the purity of the Virgin Mary.

 That may be borne out by the colony of Snowdrops at Ankerwicke Abbey in Berkshire. One of Britain's oldest trees stands there- the Ankerwicke Yew, estimated to be somewhere between 1500 and 2500 years old. Magna Carta was signed nearby. Snowdrops proliferate around the grounds among the ruins of the abbey.