Radley Large Wood is putting on a glorious display this April. Carpets of bluebells stretch through the trees, alongside a variety of other wild flowers — Wood Anemone, Primrose, Ramsons (Wild Garlic), Lesser Celandine, Greater Stitchwort, and Pink Campion. There’s also the birdsong to enjoy.

But it is the bluebells — their colour and scent — that make this a special time of year to walk through the wood.

There are a few parking places along Sugworth Lane, but the wood is also easily reached by bike from Abingdon or foot from Kennington or Lodge Hill. If you can’t make it in person, here’s a short video to give you an idea of how it looks.

In Abingdon, a swan family has been growing up this year. They travel between the River Thames above Abingdon Weir and along the Mill Stream by the Abbey Meadows.

At first there were two adults with eight cygnets. Then the family became one adult with seven, and now just six remain, guarded by the lone parent.

One cygnet has gone its own way, and can often be seen from Wilsham Reach and St Helen’s Wharf.

But life, apart from the family, is not easy. A gang of adolescent swans now dominates that stretch of the Thames. In past years an adult ruled there with its family, chasing off rivals. This year the younger birds have taken charge, and the solitary cygnet is seen off whenever it ventures where they want to go, like the slipway where they like to preen.

Walking beside the Mill Stream, which flows from the weir near the Abbey Grounds, I spotted a swan family.

There was also a parent moorhen with two young. They have grown a lot since the last time I saw them. There is so much undergrowth on the river that the others may or may not have been about.

I also saw what looked like a small fire and thought somebody was camping.

A heron was waiting for fish at the weir. The weir walkway is still closed because of safety concerns.

On the way back, I saw the fire had grown much larger. A couple had stopped to watch, and on the far bank, three or four people were actively gathering wood and throwing it onto the flames. The surrounding vegetation was dry and looked ready to catch fire, posing a real risk to nearby trees and wildlife.

We shouted at them to stop, but they ignored us and carried on. The lady called the emergency services, and we made our way around via the bridge to try to locate the fire. It was clearly visible from the Snakes and Ladders car park, and was still burning between Protyre and the Mill Stream — but access was blocked by a fence.

As we reached the fence, the people responsible ran off, and then the fire brigade arrived. The firefighters knew of another way in and drove round to reach the fire from there.