Wood anemones relish the sun. Their flowers are completely open and colour great parts of the wood white. The bluebells are slower, on most plants no buds can be seen yet. Only on the warmest and sunniest places in the wood, a few blue flower clusters appear in the green carpet of leaves. The first beautiful fern curls (young, rolled up fern leaves) are to be seen.
Unfortunately, there is another striking thing: the many barren patches caused by visitors over the last years, empty spaces where there are not any flowers this year. They might become much bigger still in the coming months… and yet, all you have to do to protect the wood’s fragile vegetation is: Stay On The Official Paths, also when taking pictures.

A summery warm spring sun gives a push to the spring flowers. In the forest edges, blacthorn is thriving abundantly, its shrubs full of snow-white flowers. There are still a few beautiful daffodils left. In the edges of the paths, lesser celandine ensures yellow stars. But the most conspicuous spring flower of the moment is the wood anemone. There seems to be a white sea of flowers in great parts of the woods on such a sunny day. On the plateaus, which are the sunniest and hottest places in the wood, here and there a bluebell appears. But there is just a few of them. The coming days are the time to enjoy the wood anemones. Don’t miss out on the wonderful time of the anemones, if you can.

Roe deer enjoy the peace and quiet in the wood and are undisturbed nibbling on the bushes. Also for them it is of the utmost importance that visitors stay on the paths and keep their dogs on a leash the coming weeks. The female deer are pregnant and are going to give birth by the end of May. If they are harassed in this period, it is so bad for them. The bloom of the wild daffodils has passed its peak, the first are starting to wither. Great parts of the wood turn white, especially on a sunny day, when the flowers of the wood anemones are fully open to catch every ray of sunlight. Every day is different in the wood. It is wonderful to see nature flourish. If you can come to wood only once, for the bluebells, you need to have some patience still.

This month the trees are measured and hammered with the ‘royal hammer’ (the process of marking which trees are to be felled). In June they will be sold by public auction. From Octobers, the loggers can fell them. The wild daffodils are beautifully in bloom. There are more blooming wood anemones by the day. In the shadow of the pines, wood-sorrel blooms. A curious bluetit watches the renovations to a former woodpeckers’ nest by a nuthatch. The first bluebells are blooming, which is 12 days later than last year, but 10 days earlier than in 2015. We still have to wait for a blue forest. But the other springflowers give the wood an enjoyable spring atmosphere.

We are planting the last trees for this winter. Cornelean cherry, blacktorn, common alder and small-leaved lime are being planted where grand firs used to be. More blooming spring flowers can be found: hairy wood-rush with its frail tiny flowers; the white flowers with a yellow heart of the barren strawberry, early dog-violet and on moist, calcareous soil  the inconspicuously blooming dog’s mercury. On wetter places opposite-leaved and alternate-leaf golden saxifrage and oxlip bloom. It is mating season for frogs and toads. A pair of mandarin ducks feast on the frogspawn. The nuthatch is preparing its nest.

A wonderful day to go for a walk and to see spring awakening in the wood. Wood anemones love the sun, opening their white flowers completely on sunny days when they can ‘sunbathe’ all day long. In the edges of the wood, goat willows are blooming and provide food for the butterflies that hibernate as a butterfly. Brimestone and common peacock fly and frolick and come to refuel at the flowers of the willows. Now is the ideal time to observe the birds. Woodpeckers and nuthatches are the acrobats of the wood. Wild daffodils are now flowering profusely. We have to wait for blooming bluebells. But wood anemones and wild daffodils give the wood its spring atmosphere. The weather forecast for the coming days is not that good, though.

Spring is not far off. Just a few days of warm, sunny weather and the wood gets colour. The white flowers of wood anemones appear everywhere. On the edges of the paths, the yellow stars of lesser celandine can be seen. On the edges of the wood, blacktorn and cornelean cherry are blooming. Here and there on a sunny spot, low to the ground, the narrow yellow ray flowers of coltsfoot reach over the grass. The wild daffodils now steal the show, and as many are still in buds, many more so-called ‘Easter flowers’ can be expected the coming days.

The leaves of the bluebells pierce through the brown carpet of old beech leaves and give the forest floor a green touch. Along the forest edges where the sunlight is, blackthorn starts flowering. Groups of wild daffodils can now be seen in the wood. But many plants have yet to start flowering. The beautiful period for the daffodils (‘Easter flower’ in Dutch) will be the second half of March.

The grassland Boukendaal on the border of te Walloon region, which became part of the forest in 2015, is being planted with trees ans shrubs. The main tree species that is planted is pedunculate oak. There is also some wild cherry, hornbeam, small-leaved lime and white elm. As to the shrub, a broad belt of hawtorn, blacktorn, guelder-rose, cornelian cherry, alder bucktorn, wild crab apple, wild peer, dog-rose, briar rose, field maple and rowan is planted in the southern edge.

The first wood anemones are flowering. But the flower that will be in the main spotlight the coming weeks is the wild daffodil: more and more greyish green leaves, flower buds and flowers appear every day. They will be at their most beautiful in the second half of March. Meanwhile, the bluebell leaves start to push through the brown beech leaves and soften these brown colours with their green touch.