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Cemetery Wildlife – December 2022

December 30, 2022December 30, 2022 by Helen Bovillin Wildlife1 Comment

As I was away on holiday for most of the month, December’s column has been written by guest reporter Grace Mount, one of our local volunteers. Here is the cemetery wildlife she found, together with photographs, all taken by her. Enjoy!

December 2022

December started mild and cloudy. There were a few days that were bright and sunny but cold. There was also a far bit of precipitation. It got very cold in the second to third week of December. In places, frost did not thaw in the cemetery because of the low sun light. However, cemetery wildlife seems to have adapted to these conditions, as birds were seen tossing the leaves over to catch hidden worms and the squirrels were very active running about in the tree canopy.

December marks the end of Autumn and the beginning of Winter. The first day of Winter falling on the 21^st is known as the winter solstice which is the shortest day and the longest night.

At the beginning of the month there were still the remaining leaves on the deciduous trees, however most of these had fallen by mid December, leaving just the evergreens behind.

Flowers and Plants

Evergreen plants in the cemetery provide much needed food for the cemetery wildlife in the cold months of winter. Holly and Pyracanthas can be seen growing in the hedge row, along the edge of the cemetery on Spring Bank West. These provide small berries for the birds, such as Blackbirds and Song Thrushes.

Holly (common name) Ilex aquifolium (scientific name) has smooth glossy leaves with spiky edges. There are a handful of very beautiful Holly bushes which can be found growing along the cemetery footpaths including one which has a variegated leaf.

Holly with a variegated leaf growing in the cemetery — **Holly (Ilex aquifolium) with a variegated leaf pattern, and Holly berries (photo at beginning of report)**

Ivy (common name) or Hedera helix (scientific name) carpets the ground in places and can be seen growing up many of the trees; produces flowers in autumn which provides much needed food for Honeybees, and cover for the birds.

Ivy flowers in the cemetery — **Ivy in flower (above)**

Wildlife habitat in the form of Ivy — **Ivy climbing up a tree trunk (above and below)**

Something that was quite unusual for the time of year, which we found, was a single Snowdrop. It was growing and in flower in a spot in the Quaker burial ground. These would usually start to flower between January and March, with the daylight hours getting longer.

Snowdrop in the QBG part of the cemetery — **A single Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) in the Quaker burial ground**

Yew trees, another evergreen, can be found growing in the Quaker part of the cemetery along with laurels, again providing much needed cover for cemetery wildlife in the cold winter months.

Moss can be found growing on gravestones and fallen branches.

Moss on a fallen gravestone in the cemetery — **Some moss on a fallen grave**

Birds

For December we saw Robins pulling worms out of the ground and Blackbirds flicking leaves over in search of hidden insects. They were very active in the Quaker part of the cemetery. Magpies, Crows and Woodpigeons were also easy to spot with there being no leaves on the trees.

A Robin in the QBG — **Robin (above) and Blackbird (below)**

Mushrooms and Fungi

A selection of fungi also found in the cemetery.

Fungus — **Velvet Shank (above and both photos below)**

Conclusion

December was mild at first with a very uncomfortable cold snap in the middle becoming mild again towards the end of the month. The footpaths that had been muddy were well trodden but frozen hard on the coldest days. Despite the cold weather it seems the cemetery wildlife continues to give many delightful and unexpected surprises with beautiful fungi, traditional seasonal evergreens, out of season flowers and amusing antics from the birds and squirrels.

Grace is home educated, following her interests of nature and animal studies. She loves birds and has helped the volunteers in HGC with monitoring and recording of the nest boxes. She frequently enjoys walks through the cemetery, litter picking and taking note of the changing seasons.

Helen Bovill

Helen is a keen photographer and nature lover. She spent a large part of her working life at the Land Registry. She is a member of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and various other similar organisations. Living close to the Cemetery for over 30 years she has seen the fortunes of the site fluctuate and has joined the FOHGC to make a positive difference.

Cemetery Wildlife – November 2022

November 28, 2022 by Helen Bovillin News, Volunteers, Wildlife

What a wet month this has been! It was still quite mild at the start, but it got colder towards the end and there was even a light frost on at least one of those days. Despite all the rain the volunteers still managed to set hundreds of wildflower plants in the grass verge along Spring Bank West. These were provided by the Council and some of the Council officers also helped us to plant them. This will hopefully help to increase the biodiversity of the cemetery wildlife. We are all looking forward to seeing the plants growing and flowering next year!

Birds

I’ve started this report with a Goldfinch because her bright colours were a welcome sight on a dull, wet day. The difference between the male and female of this species is very subtle – please see link at the end of this report containing more information.

I’ve seen plenty of Blue Tits, Great Tits and Chaffinches in the cemetery. These seem to be the commonest of the small birds – I see them every day without fail. Small groups of Chaffinches can often be seen feeding on the ground. The females are pale brown and at a glance can sometimes look like Sparrows.

I usually see at least one Robin although there are several of these highly territorial and inquisitive birds around. I also saw a small flock of Long-tailed Tits calling to each other as they foraged for insects in the trees.

I’m happy to report regular sightings of Coal Tits again. These are the same size, possibly slightly smaller, than Blue Tits.

As you can see it lacks the blue and yellow colours of the Blue Tit and instead has light brown sides. It has a white patch on top of its black head.

Nest Box Survey and Maintenance

Earlier this month we did our annual check of the nest boxes to see which ones had been used. To qualify as “used” the box had to contain a complete nest. Many of those nests were tightly packed into the nest boxes – note the slightly squared corners of this one.

We found a variety of materials had been used. The one above seems to have been made from a white man-made material (possibly some sort of stuffing) and the outside of a tennis ball (green material). But most were made of mainly natural materials such as moss and plant stems.

We also found a few of the boxes contained unhatched eggs – more than last year. I wonder if the hot summer weather encouraged the birds to try for a second or even a third brood? The cold weather would then have arrived before the eggs had time to hatch. One nest contained a dead chick that hadn’t managed to fledge and another nest contained the skeleton of what appeared to be a chick. We also found quite a lot of woodlice in the nests. All the old nests and nest material were removed from the boxes leaving them nice and clear for next year’s inhabitants.

Conclusion of Survey

We checked a total of 51 boxes and found that 31 of them had been used, giving an occupancy rate of 60.78%. It’s impossible to produce a completely scientific analysis of what constitutes a successful nest box because there are so many different factors involved. Design of box, size of entrance hole, position in the cemetery such as being near houses, near a road or footpath and so on all have to be considered.

Nevertheless a pattern has emerged over the 3 years we’ve been monitoring the nest boxes. It seems the boxes in the most central parts of the cemetery were least likely to be used; those near the footpaths had good occupancy rates. This includes the footpath nearest to Spring Bank West. This was a surprise considering how busy that road can often be. We also have a total of 13 boxes that have been used every year. But it does seem that we now have more than enough boxes for the existing bird population.

And the inhabitants of the boxes? Mainly Blue Tits, Great Tits and possibly Coal Tits. And Pigeons in the only one of the two Owl boxes we have that had been occupied this year. The other Owl box had not been used and still contained the nesting material we’d put there (as recommended) in the same condition that we left it in. Good proof that our boxes are nice and waterproof!

Trees and Plants

There were some lovely colours on the trees in the early and middle parts of the month.

The rain really brought out those colours, especially on the leaves of the Norway Maples.

There are still plenty of fruits on the Pyracantha and the Holly, and I even found some Brambles still ripening. But all are great sources of food for the cemetery wildlife to eat.

There were hardly any plants in flower this month. I did manage to find some Red Campion though.

I can usually rely on the grass verge along Spring Bank West to provide some flowers, but this month I only found a couple of Dandelions and a bit of Groundsel. The flowers of the Groundsel never open fully – instead they stay compacted in a tubular shape that’s slightly wider at the top.

But because we set so many new plants along the grass verge it should look even better than usual next Spring and Summer. I’ll be able to tell you which have flourished because I’ve been monitoring the verge for a few years now and I know what’s usually there.

Insects and Other Small Creatures

I saw one butterfly right at the start of the month, this female Large White. She looked a bit faded and her two black spots were only just visible. The male has no spots.

I still keep seeing Ladybirds in various places around the cemetery, and hoverflies and bees feeding on the Ivy flowers. Then I found these on a fallen log a few days ago and wondered what they could be.

It turns out they’re either snail or slug eggs. I think they’re most likely to be slug eggs because I couldn’t see any shell markings on their insides. I will keep checking them though, provided they don’t get eaten by the cemetery wildlife!

Mushrooms

November has been a good month for mushrooms and fungi, including Velvet Shank and Jelly Ear. But as usual I haven’t been able to identify all of them for certain. I also noticed some Silverleaf Fungus starting to appear again on the same fallen log as in previous years.

Conclusion

November has been a very wet month but it hasn’t prevented the volunteers from carrying out the jobs we usually do at this time of the year. This includes placing poppies on the headstones of the war dead. And for the first time, both of our commemorative bird boxes (one for WW1 and the other for WW2) have been occupied. But both of them by birds I hasten to add. It is very rewarding to see human-related objects being used by the cemetery wildlife!

Link to more information on those commemorated on the nest boxes:- https://friendsofhullgeneralcemetery.com/history/war-dead/

Link to information on the differences between male and female Goldfinches:- https://birdfact.com/articles/female-european-goldfinches

Helen Bovill

Cemetery Wildlife – June 2022

June 27, 2022 by Helen Bovillin News, Volunteers, Wildlife1 Comment

There has been some fine sunny weather this month. Whilst not quite hot enough to describe as a heatwave, the temperature did reach over 25 degrees on a few days. This has left the footpaths and the grass verge very dry as there has not been any significant rainfall this month. Many of the Spring plants have now stopped flowering, leaving lots of seeds for the cemetery wildlife to eat.

Insects

I saw my first Red Admirals of the season in the cemetery. The one above was in a sunny area near the volunteers’ cabin. There were also some Speckled Woods around, and I saw a Large White on the Spring Bank West grass verge.

June can be rather a quiet month for Butterflies. The ones that emerged earlier in the year will have mated, laid their eggs and then died. The period between that and the emergence of the next generation from July onwards is known as the ‘’June gap’’. I’ve certainly found this to be the case, not just in the Cemetery but in other areas as well.

However, there were still plenty of other flying insects around.

I also found an insect I hadn’t seen before – a Plant Bug, which is the size of a Ladybird. It doesn’t seem to have a specific common name, so I’ve included its scientific name on the photo. This one is a female – the males are usually a lot darker. They’re fairly new to this country, being first identified in 1996.

I also found a different type of Ladybird – this Cream-spot one. It’s a native British species, identified by its maroon-brown colour and the 14 cream spots on it.

Plants

Some Poppies are now flowering in the grassy area in the centre of the Cemetery. Alongside the Red Campions and Buttercups, they add a nice splash of colour to all the lush greenery.

The cemetery can sometimes look a bit tired at this time of year. This is because the Spring flowering plants have now started to die back and in particular the Wild Garlic, Cow Parsley and Hogweed. The grass verge can also look a little tired too. But other plants have now started to flower such as the Creeping Thistle you can see on the White Butterfly and the Bee photos. There is also White Clover, Common Mallow and Ragwort growing in this area.

To give this area a boost, the Council provided the volunteers with a good selection of native wildflowers to set along here and this has now been done. Due to the lack of rain I’ve had to go back and water them a few times on each of the hotter days. I hope we get a decent amount of rainfall sooner rather than later!

Birds

The birds have been very active this month. I’ve seen them gathering nesting material and also collecting food for their hungry chicks. Some of the birds are very vocal too, especially the Song Thrushes, Blackcaps, Wrens and Robins. An early morning walk is highly recommended – go nice and early and you can often have the whole place to yourself, with just the birds and other cemetery wildlife for company.

The dense foliage on all the trees makes the birds rather difficult to photograph. They are very much a case of heard but not seen. Well, maybe just a brief glimpse!

I haven’t seen any unusual birds this month, just the regular Blue Tits, Great Tits, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Crows, Magpies, Wood Pigeons and Stock Doves in addition to the ones mentioned earlier. Chaffinches are another common species in the cemetery.

Fungi

There hasn’t been much to report recently, but I did find a Dryad’s Saddle later on in the month. It wasn’t as large as some of the specimens I saw last year but it was still a nice surprise to see it. Note the hole – obviously this is a good source of food for the cemetery wildlife, although I’m not sure which species.

Conclusion

June has been a warm, dry and sunny month, creating the perfect conditions for the flora and fauna in the cemetery. The birds are around in good numbers, and I’ve seen some fledglings exploring the world outside their nests.

And finally, it’s nice to see one of the fallen logs being used by creatures that won’t leave any litter scattered around it!

Cemetery wildlife – May 2022

Helen Bovill

Cemetery Wildlife April 2022

April 26, 2022 by Helen Bovillin Volunteers3 Comments

CEMETERY WILDLIFE APRIL 2022

We have not had many of those famous April showers! The total rainfall has been much lower than average for the month and the footpaths are therefore dry and easy to walk on. There have been plenty of warm sunny days and the leaves on the trees have started to open. That fresh, bright pale green so characteristic of Spring is everywhere now.

Trees and Plants

The English Oak trees planted by the volunteers last year are doing well, especially the larger of the two.

Alongside the green foliage of most of the trees is the copper colouring of the new leaves on the large Beech tree in the centre of the cemetery. This tree is also known locally as the “Money Tree” and can be seen in my first photo.

Lower down, the Quince is flowering and nearby is some Yellow Archangel, which seems to do quite well in the shade.

The Lesser Celandines growing on the grass verge have almost finished flowering but they are still going strong inside the cemetery. The tiny blue flowers of the Forget-me-nots and Speedwell can now be seen if you look carefully amongst the other foliage.

Along the grass verge there is an abundance of Dandelions providing nectar for the Bees, Butterflies and other small insects. The similar-looking Hawks-beard can also be seen.

I also found some Ribwort Plantain – the first time I’d noticed any along here.

The Bluebells are now starting to flower but I will say more about them next month. It was good to see plenty of Garlic Mustard in flower – another valuable food source for Butterflies, especially the Orange-tip.

Butterflies and insects

This month I saw quite a few Small and Large White butterflies, and also Comma and Brimstone. I saw my first Orange-tips of the year this month. I also caught a few brief glimpses of my first Green-veined White of the year.

The underside of the Orange-tip’s wings looks green but this is an optical illusion caused by the black and yellow patterning.

This month also saw the first Holly Blues and Speckled Woods of the year appearing in good numbers along the verge and also inside the cemetery.

Holly Blues usually rest with their wings not fully open. These photos don’t really do them justice as they’re a much brighter blue than this but blink and you’ll miss them because they’re tiny and fast-flying. Males and females have similar underwings.

Other insects in abundance were Bees, Ladybirds and various flies including the Bee-fly.

Birds

There are still some berries on the Ivy, providing food for Wood Pigeons, Blackcaps and Blackbirds.

The birds are still busy gathering nesting material. I’ve seen quite a bit of activity around some of the bird boxes with Blue Tits in particular flying in and out of them. The larger birds will make nests of their own in the trees and bushes.

The Chiffchaffs have now arrived but are usually high up in the trees and not very easy to photograph. Their call is loud and distinctive though!

Conclusion

April has been a month of abundance, with an explosion of colour and growth in most of the plants. The number and variety of Butterflies I’ve seen is very encouraging – I’ve seen a total of 10 different species so far this year. Now is the perfect time for a stroll in the cemetery to enjoy the sights and sounds of the cemetery wildlife. You might also enjoy the many monuments too – it seems like the wildlife does! Cemetery Wildlife March 2022

Helen Bovill

Cemetery Wildlife March 2022

March 28, 2022 by Helen Bovillin General, Volunteers, Wildlife2 Comments

Where do I begin? March has been a great month for the many and varied members of the cemetery wildlife family!

This first month of the new season started off with a few rainy days but then the sun came out. Most of the days have been very sunny with the occasionally frosty start, but daytime temperatures have been higher than average for this time of year.

This warm sunshine is just what the hibernating cemetery wildlife needed and I saw the first butterfly of the year – the above Small Tortoiseshell – on 10 March.

Insects

It’s nice to be writing about insects again! A week after I saw the Small Tortoiseshell, I saw Commas and Brimstones and I got a brief glimpse of a Peacock. These were on the grass verge alongside the cemetery, but I also saw some of them inside the main part of the cemetery.

These four species of butterfly spend Winter as adults and can sometimes have slightly damaged wings by the time they emerge. This isn’t surprising considering the number of storms they’ve had to survive this year. But I did also see some very smart, new-looking individuals too.

I saw two Brimstones and both were males. Their wings are bright yellow but they always rest with their wings closed so you only see that bright yellow in flight. The females emerge slightly later than the males and are a pale green, almost white.

During the last weekend I saw my first white butterflies of the season. I saw a very active Small White on the grass verge. It only stopped very briefly and when I studied my photo, I found it was a male.

Then in the edible garden area behind Thoresby Primary School I saw a Large White. I realise this isn’t a part of the cemetery but think for the purposes of this report it can be included. After all, if your main entry into the cemetery takes you past this area then your cemetery wildlife experience begins here.

Both these species spend their winters as a pupa – a good indication that the weather is now warm enough for the butterflies to complete their final transition into full adults.

So that’s six different species of butterfly in just one month and in a relatively small area. Quite impressive!

There have been plenty of Bees around. The queens have emerged from their Winter hibernation and are starting to look for places to start a new colony.

These are the main species I’ve seen so far – Buff-tailed, White-tailed and Red-tailed Bumblebees, and Common Carder Bees. I also saw a Tawny Mining Bee towards the end of the month.

I also saw some Bee-flies. Their fluffy little bodies make them look remarkably like small bees. If you’re lucky to see one of these flies resting on a flower or a leaf look at the wings, held open at right angles to the body. Bees rest with their wings over their bodies.

Another insect I was delighted to see was this Hawthorn Shield Bug, on a Common Dog Violet leaf.

There are lots of Ladybirds of various kinds around too. Note the 7-Spot one on the right of the Commas photo for example. This is one of the twelve species native to the UK, and there are also Harlequin Ladybirds around too.

Plants and Flowers

After a slow start the Lesser Celandines are now flowering in abundance and the grass verge at the side of the cemetery is looking beautiful. They are also flowering inside the cemetery. These small yellow flowers can have between 8 and 13 petals, and they feature on several of the photos in this report. The other yellow flowers in the photos are Dandelions.

The Blackthorn trees around the cemetery are now in full flower and some of the leaf buds have started to open. Fresh green shoots are starting to appear on some of the other trees as well.

But when you look at the ground the signs of Spring are all around in the smaller flowers now starting to open. Red Dead-nettle and Wood Anemones are currently in flower on the grass verge.

Inside the cemetery small patches of Common Dog Violets can now be seen, and I even found a few Periwinkles in flower.

Birds

The birds are in full song at the moment, with the Robins being one of the loudest.

The gathering of nest material has begun in earnest and I’ve seen several Blue Tits exploring the nest boxes.

Last year the volunteers sunk a shallow dish into the ground in the Quaker Burial Ground as there is no natural supply of water in the cemetery. Other than the pools that form in wet weather of course! The Blackbirds seem especially fond of it. It’s topped up regularly in dry weather but is kept shallow for the safety of all visitors.

As far as the larger birds are concerned, there are Magpies, Carrion Crows, Stock Doves and Wood Pigeons in the cemetery. They can be seen foraging among the many ground covering plants including Wild Garlic, the leaves of which are shown here.

Some of the volunteers had a close encounter with a Sparrowhawk, flying close over their heads and into the far corner of the cemetery. It was too fast for a photo though! I also caught a brief glimpse of a female Blackcap earlier in the month. There are also Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Long-tailed Tits and Dunnocks around.

Conclusion

March has been a great month for the cemetery wildlife, with lots of sunshine and warmth. But I couldn’t end this report without mentioning the Daffodils which are now open throughout the cemetery. They are looking particularly spectacular along the grass verge, and should continue to look good well into April.

Cemetery Wildlife February 2022

Helen Bovill

Cemetery Wildlife January 2022

January 26, 2022January 26, 2022 by Helen Bovillin Volunteers3 Comments

Cemetery Wildlife January 2022 Cemetery Wildlife December

The year started with a very mild and sunny New Year’s Day – quite possibly the warmest on record for Hull. There was only a small amount of rain and some fog at the start of the month. It turned colder in the middle of the month and there was some frost, but it was generally very sunny and dry during the middle two weeks. The month ended on a duller but still dry note, helping the footpaths to become easier to walk on.

I noticed how the sunlight was able to penetrate right into the heart of the cemetery. It was actually getting more sunlight than the grass verge due to the position of the sun in the sky, having to rise above the tops of the houses on Spring Bank West.

Plants

I found a Lesser Celandine in flower on New Year’s Day, plus a few Brambles with flowers on them! Later in the month a few more Lesser Celandines were in flower, and I also found a Dandelion and some Groundsel on the grass verge.

There are lots of Snowdrops now starting to appear, helped no doubt by the fine sunshine, and they seem to be about a week earlier than last year. Very tiny buds are starting to appear on some of the trees, and there are a few catkins on one of the Hazels.

Insects

I noticed a few small insects in the air, and I also saw a Marmalade Hoverfly. Not surprisingly I didn’t see any butterflies, but I did see a report (from a reliable source) of a Small Tortoiseshell being seen in another part of Hull.

Birds

It’s been a quiet month for bird sightings in that there have not been any unusual or rare visitors to report. There are still plenty of the regular resident species around, such as Blue Tits, Great Tits and the much less abundant Coal Tit.

I managed to catch a glimpse of a Treecreeper. It started low down on the trunk of the tree and then quickly worked its way upwards, circling around the tree as it climbed. They feed on insects found under the bark.

A walk through the cemetery wouldn’t be complete without seeing one of our most easily recognised birds, the Blackbird. There are several of them around, raking through the leaves looking for food. The females are dark brown with a darker bill.

Much of the cemetery wildlife can be seen on the ground, including Wood Pigeons. There are lots of them searching for food amongst the leaves and shrubs. They can also be seen in the trees, eating Ivy berries.

The resident Robins are now in full song, marking out their territories and trying to attract a mate. They’re very early risers, often starting to sing a couple of hours before sunrise.

Also seen this month – Chaffinches, Dunnocks, Stock Doves and Wrens.

Fungi

There are still fungi to be found in the Cemetery even in January. The small and colourful Velvet Shank can even withstand freezing temperatures.

I also found some similar sized mushrooms growing on a fallen log and I believe these are known as Turkey Tail. Mushrooms can often be quite difficult to identify as their appearance can vary enormously over their sometimes quite short life spans.

When we look at mushrooms we only see the fruiting body of the organism. The rest is hidden below the surface of whatever it’s growing on. Some are so small it’s easy to miss them. The Coral Spot is tiny but its bright colour makes it easy to see.

From the tiny to the large, I found a mushroom the size of the palm of my hand mid-January. This is a type of Blewit.

I can’t say for definite if it was a Field Blewit or a Wood Blewit due to its poor condition but it was still a nice find.

Conclusion

January was a dry month with extremes of temperature ranging from extremely mild to the frosts you’d expect at this time of year. There was plenty of cemetery wildlife around as usual of course. But I couldn’t help but look back to this time last year though, when many of the volunteers and visitors to the cemetery enjoyed some excellent views of a Buzzard. I wonder what our surprise wildlife of 2022 will be? Will it be a bird or an animal or even an insect? We have another 11 months to find out!

Helen Bovill

Cemetery Wildlife December

December 27, 2021 by Helen Bovillin General, Volunteers, Wildlife4 Comments

Cemetery Wildlife December

A few days after going to press last month, storm Arwen hit us. I’m happy to report that none of the cemetery’s trees suffered any major damage during that storm. A few branches broke loose but none of them were large enough to cause any damage. But at the beginning of December storm Barra arrived and this caused some more significant damage to one of the trees near the main gates. A large branch the size of a small tree broke off a Sycamore, blocking one of the footpaths. Luckily it didn’t damage any of the headstones although it did fall quite close to them. The volunteers quickly got it cleared it away.

December got off to a very cold, wet and windy start and there was even a slight dusting of snow in the first week. It remained wet for most of the month and the footpaths are still very soft and muddy. The fallen branches were put to good use by the volunteers, turning them into chippings which were used to repair the worst affected parts of the footpaths. Before the chippings were laid, some of the deepest mud was removed and put to one side, revealing many worms in the process. The Robins were quick to notice this – it is always nice to see the cemetery wildlife benefiting from human activity!

Trees and Plants

Most of the trees are now bare, but a few pockets of leaves are still clinging on to some of them – for example, on this Norway Maple.

I was surprised to see some flowers on one of the Pyracantha bushes growing along the grass verge on Spring Bank West, especially considering that it still had a few berries on it last month. It is in a sunny location though.

There are still some berries on the Rowan – a good source of food for the birds. Over the course of the next few years, it is hoped we can plant some new native trees and shrubs of the kind that have plenty of berries on them. This will provide food for the current cemetery wildlife and hopefully attract new species, increasing the site’s biodiversity.

Very few plants are in flower at the moment. I noticed a Dandelion and some Smooth Sow-thistle along the grass verge, and also some Hogweed, although it was a much smaller plant than usual, being less than a foot tall.

Birds

The highlight of this month was seeing three Bullfinches in a wild area towards the eastern side of the cemetery – please see lead photo at the start of this report. This is the first time I’ve seen Bullfinches in the cemetery this year – they seem to be only occasional visitors at the moment. But they do appear to like feeding on the seeds found in old Brambles and there are plenty of these in the cemetery. Several areas, where there are no headstones, are deliberately left untouched for the benefit of the cemetery wildlife.

There are lots of Wood Pigeons around, and I’ve also seen a pair of Stock Doves in amongst them. The Wood Pigeons are the larger of the two species. I mentioned them in my first report back in March – these more detailed photos illustrate the different plumage and eye colours much better.

The volunteers put up some more bird boxes a few weeks ago. I noticed a Blue Tit checking one out only last week. It seems quite early to be starting the nesting process, but it might just have been looking for somewhere to shelter from the cold.

Fungi

Last month I mentioned the intriguingly named King Alfred’s Cakes that one of the volunteers had found, and I managed to find quite a few of them too. I wouldn’t normally do this, but I removed one from the tree and sliced through it to see what it looked like inside. One of my reference books describes it as “Inedible. A folk remedy to relieve night cramp and it is called Cramp Balls for this reason”.

I also found a few very small mushrooms on the ground, some of which were growing out of the wood chippings laid earlier on in the year. Fallen branches can be good places for mushrooms to grow, and some of the larger branches have been deliberately left where they fell to encourage this. Fungi, plus the tiny insects that can sometimes be seen on them, are another good food source for the cemetery wildlife.

Conclusion

It has been a very cold, wet and dull month but there is still plenty of wildlife around. As I write this it is nearly Christmas; by the time you read this Christmas will be over. I hope yours was a happy Christmas and that the coming year will be a good one for you!

Helen Bovill

Cemetery Wildlife November

November 27, 2021November 27, 2021 by Helen Bovillin General, Volunteers, Wildlife

Cemetery Wildlife November

November was a mild but damp month, and rather dull too with less sunshine than the previous month. But when the sun came out it highlighted the stunning beauty of the Autumn colours in a way that took one’s breath away. Many people I spoke to during my frequent walks around the cemetery also expressed their appreciation of this colourful sight.

Plants

This seems the ideal subject to talk about first, with the emphasis on trees as they are looking so good at the moment.

The main tree in the first photo is a Hornbeam – it is one of the species where the leaves turn yellow in Autumn. It seems to be a good year for leaf colour because I don’t recall seeing this tree looking so vibrant last year. This is located on the southern footpath not far from the main gates.

Another species where the leaves turn yellow in Autumn is the Norway Maple. These trees are also looking very vibrant and colourful, providing a carpet of yellow and gold along the southern footpath.

There are a number of Turkey Oaks in the cemetery and their leaves have now turned brown and lie on the ground in abundance. Earlier in the year the volunteers planted two English Oak trees but these are only saplings with many years’ growth ahead of them.

This shows the difference between the two species of Oak. Please note the English Oak leaf is only smaller because it came from a much smaller tree.

The impressive Beech tree in the centre of the cemetery (also known as the “money tree”) has now dropped all its leaves, creating a carpet of copper around it. But many of the deciduous trees still have plenty of green leaves on them.

There are still plenty of berries on the Pyracantha and Berberis bushes. I make no distinction between native and introduced species because to the cemetery wildlife they are simply just good sources of food.

Mushrooms

From the largest structures in the cemetery, I now move on to some of the smallest. And if you spot them when they’ve only just started to grow, they really are small! They can be particularly hard to find amongst all the fallen leaves which often tower above them.

Mushrooms and other Fungi are often difficult to identify because their appearances can change very quickly.

See what I mean? They are another good food source for the cemetery wildlife hence the presence of what looks like bite marks on the second photo. I have seen several other small mushrooms but I’ve been unable to identify them with any certainty. But I can report that one of the volunteers found some Haresfoot Inkcaps recently, and also some King Alfred’s Cakes. Yes, that really is the name of a fungus!

Another fungus that can be seen at the moment, usually on fallen trees and logs, is the Silverleaf Fungus. It starts off flat and then develops into rows of frills and other protuberances.

Birds

There are no unusual visitors to report this month. There are plenty of the usual resident species around such as Wood Pigeons, Robins, Wrens, Blackbirds, Chaffinches and Blue Tits. Stock Doves, Goldfinches, Coal Tits, Long-Tailed Tits and Dunnocks are also around.

There are also a number of Great Tits living in the cemetery. These are bigger than Blue Tits and slightly bigger than Goldfinches.

Adult birds in full breeding plumage usually have chests that are a much brighter yellow than this one. They can look stunning when the sun shines on them.

Insects

It seems strange not to be talking about butterflies but it is November after all. However, one of the volunteers DID find a Small Tortoiseshell in her house a couple of weeks ago! But it was nowhere near the cemetery.

There are still lots of Ladybirds around and wasps and hoverflies too. There are also plenty of tiny insects around for the birds to find up high in the trees.

Conclusion

November has been a good month for the cemetery, with the trees being the real stars this time. Birds are around in good numbers and it is always a delight to see new types of fungi. It’s the perfect time for a leisurely stroll to marvel at all the lovely cemetery wildlife! Cemetery Wildlife October

Helen Bovill

Cemetery Wildlife – August 2021

August 25, 2021August 28, 2022 by Helen Bovillin General, News, Volunteers, Wildlife4 Comments

August was a quiet month, weather-wise, with no extremes of heat, cold or rain but with plenty of dull days. Pretty much a typical summer month in these parts! Summer Wildlife

Birds

It seems to have been a good year for the cemetery’s birds, with plenty of young ones around. All the cemetery’s Tit species have bred successfully – Long-tailed, Blue, Great and Coal (pictured above). There are some young Blackbirds around, and I saw a young Song Thrush too – its tail feathers will appear later but it is still able to fly without them.

The best, albeit brief, sighting this month was a pair of Bullfinches but I didn’t manage to get a photograph of either of them. The young Goldfinches of last month’s report are doing well and starting to feed independently.

There are plenty of Chaffinches around and these are easy to spot, especially the males with their pinkish-brown feathers. The females are much duller shades of brown and can sometimes be mistaken for Sparrows. But male and female Chaffinches have white feathers in their wings which make them easily identifiable in flight.

I find it fascinating that the males and females of some bird species have distinctly different plumage – for example, Chaffinches and Bullfinches. This is known as sexual dimorphism. Their differences are quite obvious to see. However, the differences between male and female Goldfinches are much more subtle to the point of them being almost identical. I would not be able to say with confidence what sex the Goldfinches of last month’s report were!

Butterflies and other insects

It has been a very quiet month for butterflies. One of my neighbours has a huge Buddleia in her garden which is normally teeming with butterflies in August. I have only seen a couple on it so far and this lack of activity is reflected in the cemetery. I caught brief glimpses of a few White butterflies (I was unable to tell which species) and I saw a Holly Blue flying high around some Ivy.

The most common butterfly species in the cemetery is the Speckled Wood and on sunny days there are usually a few around. They flutter around each other in the air and then spend time basking in the sun. This one was in the Quaker Burial Ground.

There are Ladybirds and Hoverflies around too but not in great numbers.

Flowers and other plants

The Cow Parsley and Wild Garlic has died back completely to the point where it’s hard to see where it once grew. Any plants now in flower that look a bit like Cow Parsley will most likely either be Hogweed, which is quite a tall plant, or the lower-growing Wild Carrot.

I struggled to find anything in flower to show you this month. The cemetery is still very green though! I did manage to find a few Buttercups, Herb Robert, Nipplewort, Great Willowherb and Feverfew. The berries are now starting to appear on the Snowberry bush but it is still in flower.

My main aim is to write about the wild flowers and plants in the cemetery. This section of the newsletter is called Cemetery Wildlife after all! But many of the trees and shrubs growing in the cemetery are there because of what was planted in the past. They have now become naturalised so I will not draw any distinctions between these and the wild flowers. Regardless of whether or not they are native, they still have value to the cemetery wildlife.

The volunteers will only be planting native species in the cemetery, such as a recently planted English Oak. Any wild flowers to be set will be native species that will blend in with their surroundings and complement what is already growing there.

The situation in the Quaker Burial Ground is slightly different because this area is owned by the Quakers under a long lease. They have requested that the Friends of Hull General Cemetery manage this area on their behalf. It is still in a conservation area where the same considerations apply with regard to the felling of trees and so on. But we have been able to set some new shrubs and plants that are not necessarily native species. However, we will also be planting some native species whenever we can.

Mushrooms

I have not seen any fresh large specimens this month, but there are still plenty of tiny mushrooms to be seen growing on the ground. Given that the footpaths are covered in wood chippings this is not unexpected!

Mammals

I have no new Fox or Hedgehog sightings to report, but there are always some Grey Squirrels around and these can be seen almost every day. There will always be someone who doesn’t like them of course. But I never tire of watching them chasing each other up and around the trees, or simply posing on the ground. And what child doesn’t love seeing them during family walks through our favourite cemetery?

The Grey Squirrel can vary in colour quite a lot – this one has a brilliant white chest and mainly grey/brown colouring. But some Squirrels can have more gingery hairs and very pale ginger chests.

Conclusion

A rather uneventful month for the cemetery wildlife, with the dull and cooler days perhaps accounting for the low numbers of butterflies on the wing. The grass verge on Spring Bank West still doesn’t contain many flowers and this will have affected butterfly numbers too. But the birds are around in good numbers. Berries are now starting to appear on the bushes so they will have plenty of food to keep them going as we head into September. Dare I say that it is starting to feel slightly Autumnal already?

Helen Bovill

Summer Wildlife

July 25, 2021 by Helen Bovillin General, Wildlife4 Comments

Summer Wildlife: July

What a month of contrasts July has been, going from torrential downpours earlier in the month to a heatwave in the middle of it!

It’s a relief to start this month’s report with some good news – Hull City Council has apologised for the cutting of the grass verge alongside the cemetery in early June, stating it had been done by their operator in error.

They do appreciate the value of such Summer wildlife habitats and as a result they are going to designate the grass verge as a ‘’no mow’’ area. This means they will only cut the grass and the plants at the back of it at the end of Summer or early in Autumn. They are also going to set some wildflower seeds in the bare area, so next year we should see some additional plants growing there as well as the usual ones.

The grass has started to grow back now, and luckily there are plenty of flowers on the Brambles at the back of the verge – an important source of nectar for Bees and other pollinating insects.

Butterflies and insects

Another quiet month for butterflies, with just a few Speckled Woods and Large Whites around. I also saw a Small Tortoiseshell, but the best sighting this month was a Red Admiral, which kept me company while I was working in the Quaker Burial Ground.

Whenever you see a butterfly fluttering nearby it’s always worth holding your arm out to see if it lands on you – this is one of the species that will sometimes do this. It remained on my hand for half an hour, presumably feeding on the minerals on my skin. (Polite description of sweat, an unlimited food source for the butterfly that hot day).

This gave the other volunteers an opportunity to observe a butterfly up close, and to appreciate the need to plant and maintain shrubs and flowers that attract and sustain them.

There were lots of Ladybirds of varying sizes and colours around. In many cases it is not easy to identify which species they are because some species have colour and spot number variations within that species.

There are around a dozen native UK species, three of which are yellow. I thought I’d found one of those, but this one is a Harlequin.

Birds

There are still plenty of fledglings or juveniles around. But sometimes it is difficult to tell which are the young ones and which are the adults because at this time of the year the adults start the process of replacing their feathers.

This can sometimes give them a rather scruffy look compared with the smoother look of the juveniles.

It seems to have been a good year for Blue Tits and Great Tits, with many of the earlier fledglings no longer being reliant on their parents for food.

There are young Blackbirds, Robins and Chaffinches around and I was lucky to have the pleasure of observing a family of five newly-fledged Goldfinches being fed by both their parents.

Juvenile Goldfinches are easy to identify because of the yellow feathers in their wings.

The black, white and red feathers on their faces come later. Both sexes are similar.

A regular visitor to the cemetery showed me some footage he’d taken on his mobile phone of a female Mallard walking through the cemetery with some ducklings following behind her! I hope they made it safely to the nearest large body of water, which is in Pearson Park.

Mallards have been known to nest in some unusual places including balconies on high-rise flats. They can then sometimes need human assistance to get them to safety.

Another bird I haven’t seen in the cemetery for a while is the Collared Dove, so I was pleased to see one this month.

Flowers and other plants

The natural dying-off of the Cow Parsley and Hogweed has continued, and some Wild Carrot has now appeared.

When fully open it looks a bit like a shorter version of Cow Parsley, but it has some feathery leaves underneath the flower head. The buds look a bit like Love-in-a-Mist buds.

Not many plants are in flower at the moment. There are the usual Buttercups, Daisies and Clover to see. There is now some Enchanter’s Nightshade, Broad-leaved Willow herb and Hedge Woundwort in flower.

Prior to the Stop Notice the volunteers had planted some species approved by the Council as being appropriate for the site in various places around the Cemetery. The Foxgloves were doing well and had started to flower but some have been pulled up and others had their flower stems broken. Why anyone would do this is beyond me.

The Stop Notice meant that the volunteers were not allowed to set any plants in the area we were hoping would become a butterfly meadow.

So rather than see them go to waste, we set the plants in two areas near the path behind Thoresby Street school. These included Sunflowers, Cornflowers and other mixed wildflowers. These spare areas of unused land are in a rather shady location but the Cornflowers are now flowering.

Mushrooms

It is sad to have to report that another beautiful specimen of a Dryad’s Saddle has been destroyed by someone. At first large parts of it had been sliced off. A few days later the rest had been removed leaving no trace of it. Vandalism? Theft? Either way this is very disheartening and disappointing, and there are no more large specimens left in the Cemetery now.

There are still a few smaller mushrooms around including these tiny Fairy Inkcaps.

Mammals

A regular visitor to the cemetery reported seeing a Hedgehog in there one evening. I know one has also been seen in some of the adjoining gardens along Welbeck Street. It would be nice to think that this increasingly scarce little animal might find a safe place to live and raise a family in the Cemetery.

One evening around sunset a group of volunteers met up to take part in a national Bat survey. While we were waiting for the bats to emerge, we caught a brief glimpse of a Fox and two cubs in the distance. We had two bat detecting devices with us, and we heard and saw a few Pipistrelles. The best sightings were just outside the boundary in Western Cemetery.

Conclusion

It has been a successful month for the birds of the Cemetery, with plenty of youngsters around the site. But in Summer wildlife can be hard to spot; there are probably many other young birds and animals I didn’t manage to see. The damage to plants and Fungi was disheartening, but the Butterflies continue to bring joy.

And after the heavy rains and high temperatures of the first half of the month, it ended with some much cooler and cloudy weather.

Let’s see what August has in store for all that call Hull General Cemetery home! Wonderful Wildlife

Helen Bovill