Hitchin Wildlife

  Hitchin Cemetery June-July 2026 The top news from the cemetery is that it has been awarded a Green Flag Award for the first time! This scheme is run by the Keep Britain Tidy charity and is only given to parks and green spaces which meet a whole host of criteria from accessibility and safety through to appropriate management of the environmental and cultural landscape. The Friends of Hitchin Cemetery group is proud to have played a part over the last 10 years in looking after the cemetery by working with North Herts Council and the Countryside Management Service and this award is recognition that the cemetery is an important part of Hitchin's community. The Green Flag Awards ceremony, held in Watford Paul Todd MBE ( Green Flag Award Manager at Keep Britain Tidy ), Alan North ( NHC Head of Green Spaces ),  Derek Burness ( founder member of FofHC ) and Michele Walde ( Learning and Development Manager for the  Green Flag Award) . FofHC Team: Phil, John, Hilary, Margaret, Ve...

  Hitchin Cemetery April-May 2026 The cemetery has some lovely spring-time flowers which are on the showy side, but also some understated ones too, here are two, one rather small and one rather hidden amongst the leaves...      On the left is Early Dog-violet with the scientific name of Viola reichenbachiana, Sherlock Holmes' fans might recognise the reference to the Swiss waterfall in the name. These flowers are found under trees and are an early source of nectar for early-flying bees. It is one of several plants which have a symbiotic relationship to Ants: small appendages on their seeds are desirable food so they take the seeds to their nests so helping with seed dispersal (aka Myrmecochory). On the right are the flowers of one of the magnificent cemetery Copper Beeches, and again these are a good source of food for early insects such as bees and hoverflies, but often these flowers are difficult for us humans to see. As well as the contrast between little and...

  Hitchin Cemetery Jan-Mar 2026 Friends of Hitchin Cemetery 10th Anniversary In March the Friends Group celebrated 10 years of their existence with a special gathering. It was attended by the Cemetery Manager, a local councillor, the Town Centre Manager, and representatives of the Countryside Management Service, the NHC Greenspace Team, Hitchin Historical Society, the Herts at War project, Hitchin Forum and John O'Conner plus of course the members of the Friends Group, sporting their brand new fleeces kindly provided by the council. A few speeches were made, a short tour of the Victorian part of the cemetery took place, where the Friends group concentrates their efforts, and refreshments taken. Many thanks to all involved for attending and making the event happen. The Friends of Hitchin Cemetery group (FOHC) had its origins in a group of volunteers working for the Countryside Management Service (CMS). They were given the opportunity to attend a topiary course at the cemetery which ...

  Hitchin Cemetery  October - December 2025 The cemetery's primary purpose is obviously as a quiet place of remembrance and contemplation but in addition to this the cemetery is notable for its wildlife and in particular its "Unimproved Grassland". The UK has lost most of its old meadows because of high-intensity farming methods, and patches of high quality unimproved grassland which are left, such as the cemetery, hold significant levels of biodiversity. The photos below show just some of the fungi which were fruiting during the last months of the year, all of them indicative of healthy undisturbed grassland.                              Suede Bolete                                                             ...