The first full month of autumn contained some mild sunny weather, with temperatures reaching the high teens on several days. October is the month of Hull Fair, and anyone who has lived in Hull for most of their lives will be familiar with the term “Hull Fair weather”. This dates back many years and refers to the cold, wet and windy weather that often used to affect the week of the fair. Nowadays more and more Hull Fair weeks are mild and sunny. Many fairgoers use the Cemetery as a short cut from the Dukeries to Spring Bank West and then to the fair. I hope they appreciate the beauty of the cemetery wildlife on their way there.
Insects
I was hoping to see some butterflies, and saw a Speckled Wood at the beginning of the month. Then much later in the month I saw two of them, plus one Comma. These are pictured above – the Comma is on the left. Both these species overwinter as adults, and the mild sunny days seem to have kept them active.
I saw lots of Ladybirds this month, all of them Harlequins as far as I could tell. Several of them landed on my clothes and in my hair while I was trying to photograph just one of them!
The rest of the insects I saw in October were mainly wasps, a few hoverflies and several flies of various types.
Birds
It was a quiet month for the avian branch of the cemetery wildlife. I saw most of the expected small birds but in ones and twos rather than in larger numbers. These were Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Long-tailed Tits, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Robins, Wrens, Dunnocks and Blackbirds. There was still no sign of the Bullfinches that were a regular sight in the spring and early summer.
Of the larger birds, I saw just Wood Pigeons, Carrion Crows and Magpies. I didn’t see any Stock Doves this month.
Plants and Trees
I spent a considerable amount of time looking for flowers this month, but found much less than I did this time last year. The most flowers I found were on the Ivy. The flowers and fruits of this widespread plant provide food for much of the cemetery wildlife.
I managed to find a few Dandelions in flower, and also one White Campion.
Wood Avens is a plant that can be found just about everywhere in the cemetery. It spreads with ease by its seeds, which can easily get stuck on clothing and animal fur. I managed to find one plant still in flower.
As you can see, it appears to have been nibbled by the cemetery wildlife.
The trees continue to look very autumnal, including this Rowan and a large Beech tree in the centre of the cemetery. But I’ll say more about the different trees and their autumn leaves in next month’s report.
Fungi
I found a species I’d never seen before – the Flame Shield. They were growing inside the trunk of an old but still living Horse Chestnut tree.
I also found some Candlesnuff fungus, growing on a tree stump, and some Coral Spot on a nearby fallen branch.
I also found a group of small mushrooms. They were larger than the Fairy Inkcaps I occasionally see, so these are possibly Common Inkcaps.
Conclusion
In addition to the weather already mentioned, there was some rain in the last half of the month. This has left some parts of the footpaths muddy with small puddles in them, but nowhere near as bad as it was last October. The month ended with a week of dry, mild and sometimes sunny weather, so the footpaths have started to dry out and are now easy to walk on again.
And Finally …..
I’m delighted to say that Hull General Cemetery now has its own dedicated page or project on the iNaturalist website. It was kindly set up for me by Andy Steele of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. Whenever anyone adds anything they’ve seen in the cemetery to iNaturalist, either from their smartphones or computers, it’s automatically added to the cemetery page. I’ve added a link below – as you might have guessed, I’m helenbhull. You can now see not just the cemetery wildlife I’ve found but what other people have found too. Please enjoy looking at this fascinating site!
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