Time-Lapse Project:
A Tale of Two Springs

We have been running the photo stations for about 18 months now, and have enough photos to be able to look for trends and make comparisons.
There are many things that could be looked at, but since the star attraction in the woods are the bluebells, we started there. We have photos that cover two complete "bluebell seasons" - 2024 and 2025 - so we can compare them.
The strips of photos below show the bluebells coming out, flowering and dying back for the same dates in 2024 and 2025. There are some really clear differences:

In 2024 the bluebells appear earlier, seem to be denser and more prolific, but die back at pretty much the same time as in 2025.
This could be related to the different weather conditions that occured in the two springs. In 2024, the weather was warm, unsettled and dull. There was a great deal of rain - some places had three times the average rainfall for the month. It was also warm, with May in particular seeing temperatures well above average.
By contrast, the spring of 2025 was the warmest and sunniest on record - the warmest since 1884 for temperature and since 1910 for sun.
It looks like the wetter conditions may be better for growing the bluebells, though warmer soil is likely to promote growth too.

The same pattern is visible in the photos for all three stations, even though the bluebells around Station 3 tend to bloom a bit later, as it is in a part of the wood that behaves slightly differently.

We really want people to keep on taking photos at these stations, as it really shows how changing conditions affect the woods. There may well be other effect we can look for in the photos, but it seemed obvious to start with the woods' star attraction!