Tag: Winter

Cemetery Wildlife – January 2024

by Helen Bovillin Wildlife1 Comment on Cemetery Wildlife – January 2024

 

The year started off with a beautifully sunny day and temperatures of just a few degrees.  Then there was a day of heavy rain.  Then we had some dry, cool days, allowing the footpaths around the cemetery to slowly begin to dry out.  In the middle of the month Hull had about a week of very cold, frosty days with sub-zero temperatures.   This was followed by two named storms in quick succession.  I’m happy to report the high winds didn’t cause any major damage to any of the trees in the cemetery.  But generally, it has been quite a dry January.  The cemetery wildlife has been as active as ever with good numbers of birds around.

Birds

Small Birds

The featured photo this month shows two Robins that I saw on one of my many walks around the cemetery.  They’re very territorial birds but these two seemed to be tolerant of each other.  This suggests they’re probably a couple, paired up and looking for a suitable nesting site.

I was delighted to get a few brief glimpses of a Goldcrest, searching for tiny insects in the Ivy.  The cemetery provides excellent habitat for them, but they’re very difficult to see.

A Goldcrest amongst the Ivy
Goldcrest (male)

They’re very similar to the much rarer Firecrest – please see the link at the end of the report for more information.

I saw the 3 Bullfinches I mentioned last month on numerous occasions.  I still find it a delight to see that distinctive shade of salmon pink up in the trees.

Two male bullfinches high up in the trees in the cemetery
Bullfinches (both male)

I’ve also seen lots of Chaffinches in the cemetery, and Goldfinches too, often in small, highly vocal flocks. 

A back view of a Goldfinch perched on a branch in the cemetery
Goldfinch

I saw a Dunnock, and plenty of Great Tits and Blue Tits this month.  Blue Tits seem to be the most numerous of the cemetery’s bird species.  And high up in the trees I sometimes caught brief glimpses of a fast-moving flock of Long-tailed Tits.  One day some of them came lower down and one landed in a tree quite close to where I was standing.

A Long-tailed tit perched on a branch in the sunshine
Long-tailed Tit

The avian branch of the cemetery wildlife seems to be thriving at the moment and I’m sure the close proximity to houses on the northern boundary has helped them.  Several of their gardens, I’m sure, will have bird feeders and sources of water in them.  Shelter too.  The RSPB’s “Big Garden Birdwatch” took place during the last weekend of the month and this might well have motivated people to put out food and water to attract them.

Larger Birds

I saw Blackbirds, Carrion Crows and Magpies as usual this month, and caught a brief glimpse of a thrush.  It was too quick for me to tell which species it was – Song or Mistle – though.  I saw two Stock Doves this month.

Stock Dove in a tree in the cemetery
Stock Dove – one of a pair seen regularly in the area near the Cholera Monument

However, they’re not an abundant species – the main species of larger bird is the Wood Pigeon and I saw several of these all over the cemetery.  They’re bigger than Stock Doves and have a white patch at each side of the neck and different coloured eyes.

A wood pigeon on a gravestone in the cemetery
Wood Pigeon

I often see them on the ground and perching on the headstones.  But if you hear a loud flapping noise high up in the trees, look up and you’ll probably see one, reaching for the berries of the most abundant plant in the cemetery.

Plants

Plants – fruit

That most abundant plant is Ivy and its berries are now ripe and ready for the cemetery wildlife to eat!  This plant is very beneficial to wildlife, providing food and shelter.  Where it acts as ground cover it helps keep the area free of frost, making foraging easier.

Ripe ivy berries
Ivy berries

I noticed some of the Pyracantha bushes still had berries on them, and the Holly and Berberis too.  In addition I found a Rowan (also known as Mountain Ash) with some berries on it.

One of the rowan trees in the cemetery, with red berries on it
Rowan or Mountain Ash

Plants – flowering

The council finally cut the grass verge along Spring Bank West during the first part of the month. This took place just in time to avoid damaging any of the newly emerging plants. It looks like it was given a high cut, leaving some of the lower greenery intact.

Frosty leaves on the grass verge
Three seasons in one – autumn decay, spring growth and winter frost

Soon after the cut, I couldn’t find any flowers along the verge so I ventured inside the cemetery to see what I could find. There was nothing lower down, and it was too early for Blackthorn, but I found some catkins on one of the cemetery’s hazel trees.

Catkins - the flowers of the hazel tree
Hazel

Then towards the end of the month clusters of snowdrops started to emerge and flower all over the cemetery.  I found at least two different types this month.  Note how both have been nibbled by the cemetery wildlife.

A group of snowdrops with single petals
Snowdrops – single petals (above)
A group of snowdrops with double petals
Snowdrops – double petals

I walked past the grass verge most days, but it wasn’t until the last weekend of the month that I found some flowers growing again, a couple of weeks after it had been cut.

A dandelion growing low amongst the grass
Dandelion, with a very short stem

I was also delighted to see my first fully-opened Lesser Celandines of the year, and my first Marmalade Hoverfly of the year on one of the flowers!

A Marmalade Hoverfly on the yellow flower of a Lesser celandine
Lesser Celandine with Marmalade Hoverfly (female)

Then back inside the cemetery, I found a common dog-violet in flower.  I don’t recall seeing one flowering so early in previous years.

The small purple flower of the common dog-violet growing near a gravestone in the cemetery
Common dog-violet

Conclusion

January has been quite a varied month, weather-wise.  Even after a day of persistent rain at the end of the month, the footpaths are still easier to walk on than they were last month. The Council provided us with some chippings from some branches they removed from one of the trees overhanging the footpath and road on Spring Bank West.  We used these to repair a small area of the southern footpath.

I found a few types of fungi in the cemetery but nothing I hadn’t seen in previous months.  Early in the month I was delighted to catch a brief glimpse of a fox one morning.  But I’ll end this report, as usual, with the main representative of the mammalian branch of the cemetery wildlife.

Three squirrels sitting on some of the flat headstones in the cemetery
On the headstones near the northern path to Western cemetery. See you next time! 

The difference between Goldcrest and Firecrest –

British Garden Birds – Goldcrest (garden-birds.co.uk)

 

 

Cemetery Wildlife – December 2022

by Helen Bovillin Wildlife1 Comment on Cemetery Wildlife – December 2022

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!

HB

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 21st 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)

Close-up of Ivy leaves

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)

Blackbird (male) in the cemetery

Mushrooms and Fungi

A selection of fungi also found in the cemetery.

Silverleaf Fungus
Silverleaf Fungus (above)
Fungus
Velvet Shank (above and both photos below)

Velvet shank

Velvet Shank mushrooms on a fallen tree trunk in the cemetery

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.