DOLLAR GLEN is at its vibrant best just now, with drifts of bluebells carpeting the woodland floor that are complemented by a wide variety of other stunning wildflowers.

From Mill Green, I took the path that ascends the west side of the glen by the golf course and was soon immersed within its wild beauty.

The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins eloquently described the wonders of a woodland floor carpeted by bluebells as having a "blue-buzzed haze" with "wafts of intoxicant perfume".

It was a flower that held him in such star-struck awe that on another occasion he wrote "….they came in falls of sky-colour washing the brows and slacks of the ground with vein-blue".

The white blooms of greater stitchwort and ramsons (wild garlic) were also flowering in abundance. Ramson leaves have a wonderful garlicky taste and once the plant is in full bloom, they deliver a distinctive pungent aroma across the woodland floor.

Stinky nanny is one old country name for the ramson – but how inappropriate, for I just love the scent they bring to the woodland floor at this time of year.

Ramsons can form very dense colonies, but they are fickle in their distribution, being abundant in some woods and totally absent in others.

The ramson is also sometimes known as 'bear's garlic' because it is said that these are among the first plants that bears eat when they emerge from hibernation.

Equally enchanting is wood sorrel, which is also flowering now and is often found growing on moss-covered tree stumps and fallen logs.

It has a subtle beauty that is easy to miss, and it really is worth examining this flower closely, for what from a distance appear as white petals are in fact gently inscribed with lilac.

I wandered further up the glen and sat on a log where I breathed-in the wonderful aroma of the bluebells and other wildflowers, so exquisite in their timeless essence.

The distant yodelling of a green woodpecker echoed through the trees and the cascading call of a willow warbler drifted across the air.

The sunshine was warm, and life felt good, so I closed my eyes for a while, letting the rich scents and sounds of nature envelop my senses.