A Wordsworth Moment

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils. 

Wordsworth isn't my favourite poet, but if you've just seen an extensive colony of truly wild daffodils that you didn't know existed, then he's the obvious thought.

We came across them on our Thursday 10 March walk from Chaumussay. I've obviously never passed this way at just the right moment to see them in the last decade. They are rampaging across the former railway embankment just outside the village and on what is now the Greenway (Fr. voie verte).

Wild Daffodil Narcissus pseudonarcissus (Fr. Narcisse jaune) is the most abundant Narcissus species in Europe, with dozens of vernacular names depending on region. The quite large flowers can be identified because the trumpet is a much brighter yellow than the creamy tepals. The Narcisse jaune is often erroneously called a jonquille, but strictly speaking, this vernacular name refers to another species, native to the Mediterranean.

It is a plant that in some places is rather rare, but in others forms dense carpets of flowers in open meadows, especially warm west facing slopes.