Springtime blues: now is the time to enjoy some of Croydon’s green spaces
The London Wildlife Trust has recommended two of its nature reserves in Croydon as among the best places in the capital to find springtime displays of bluebells.
But you need to hurry if you are to enjoy this springtime spectacular. This year’s bluebells are already starting to bloom – around a month earlier than usual, meaning that there’s just a couple of weekends to catch them at their best.
Bluebells spend most of the year hidden beneath the soil of ancient woodlands, bursting into bloom when sunlight still reaches the woodland floor before the trees reach full leaf capacity.
LWT recommends:
A magical oak woodland alive with spring colour, including bluebells and dog-violets. Look out for woodpeckers, stag beetles and the largest woodland pond in Croydon.
Bramley Bank is a 25-acre reserve in Upper Shirley. It is owned by Croydon Council and managed by London Wildlife Trust. Access via Riesco Drive, CR2 7LG.
This beautiful hillside reserve is known for its sweeping bluebell displays, rare wildflowers and an impressive variety of butterflies and moths.
The entrance to Hutchinson’s Bank is easily reached from the New Addington tram stop. The 54-acre reserved has benefited from the return of natural grazing but a flock of LWT-managed sheep.
Go quackers with DucklingWatch
Mallards may be the country’s most common duck, but there’s still plenty we don’t know about how their ducklings survive and grow.
DucklingWatch is a citizen science project asking people to record sightings of mallard broods, helping researchers better understand duckling survival and support future conservation.
The observations are important: a University of Essex study in 2022 began investigating why the country’s winter population of ducks has dropped by an estimated 36% since 1995.
To take part in DucklingWatch, simply share details such as location, date, number of ducklings and their approximate age.
Click here to take part in the survey.
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2026, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for an EIGHTH time in nine years, in Private Eye magazine’s annual round-up of civic cock-ups
- Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
Please also don’t forget the other woods in Croydon with glorious bluebells too – Kings wood ( Selsdon/Sanderstead), Selsdon Wood (guided walk on 11th) and Littleheath Woods (on 18th). See each wood’s website for more information – and join the Friends of groups who help in each wood. Next work session at Selsdon Wood is on Sunday 12th – meet at 10 in the car park off Old Farleigh Road.
The other woods are not “forgotten”, Linda. But these are London Wildlife Trust sites, which it reckons are among its best in the whole area.
You appear to have forgotten to send through any details of your up-coming events, though, which we can advertise for no charge for our paying subscribers.
Selsdon Woods is the first place I found bags of dog sh!t hanging in the trees. Beautiful spot, offensive people …