White wood anemonies carpet the woods in April.

The best loved British woodland flower, though, has to be the bluebell. Where the conditions allow, their distinctive blue drifts carpet the valley sides.

In early May, the blackthorn is in bloom on the banks of the Churnet.

Wild garlic, with its pungent aroma, occurs in great profusion in many parts of the valley.

Higher up on the valley side, bilberries (or blaeberries where I come from) are in flower. The berries form in the late summer and are quite tasty, although they do turn your tongue purple.

They grow in drifts beneath the trees at Froghall Wharf.

Yellow marsh marigolds enjoy the boggy ground next to a tributary of the Churnet that runs through Consall Wood. Also here are fading pink spikes of butterbur, another damp lover.

Butterbur flowers appear as naked spires in March and will be replaced by large rhubarb-like leaves in the summer.

In more open ground, light blue forget-me-nots grow through the grass.

Primroses aren't common but I found this patch next to the canal and the Staffordshire Way between Froghall and Consallforge.