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Identifying sedges. Its English name is Carnation Sedge (Carex panicea) and its leaves look rather like the foliage of carnations, with the same attractive blue-grey colour. It is certainly the bluest leaf of all the common upland sedges. 
It has different male and female spikes, 3 stigmas, hairless utricles and non-droopy female spikes, so it’s in Group F. Here are its measurement data:
Key F (Stace, p. 1005) #1 Leaf sheath hairy (left) or not (right). Not hairy so on to #2
#2 You need to look very closely at the surface of the utricle (x20). Is it covered in small, nipple-like structures (papillose, left) or not (right)? Not, so on to #3
#3 Look at the base of the lowest bract. Is the sheathing base of the bract big (more than 3mm) or small (2mm or less) ? The sheathing base is big (ours is 5.5mm), so on to #9.
#9 The blue-grey stems are loosely (not densely) tufted, so on to #10
#10 Are the utricles big (more than 5mm with long beaks, left) or small (3.4mm with a beak much less than 1.5mm, right) ? Small with a tiny beak, so on to #12
#12 Look closely at the edges of the beak (x20). Are they smooth or scabrid (rough) ? They are not really big enough to be scabrid ! So on to #13
#13 An easy one to finish with. Look at the long sheathing base of the lowest bract. Is it inflated and loose-fitting (left) or not (right)? It’s tight-fitting (right), so our plant is Carex panicea. This is confirmed by the tiny beak of the utricle (0.3mm).
The most important feature you would use in the field for Carex panicea has not appeared in the key. Look at the very tip of the leaf. It is solid with a flat upper surface and triangulasr in section (trigonous). The other blue leaf, C. flacca, is chanelled right up to the tip.
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