Hitchin Cemetery Wildlife April 2022

 HITCHIN CEMETERY APRIL 2022

Early April brings the Cowslips which are increasing in number in the cemetery these days. 

 

There are other wonderful additions to the cemetery flowers, including some Snake's Head Fritillary, Ornamental Strawberry and dark purple Cerinthe (much loved by bees).

  


The insects are really getting going with various species of Bees and also Dark Edged Bee Flies, which mimic the shape of Bees. Bee Flies are little fluff balls each with a long proboscis and they are only on the wing during April and May. This one was warming itself on a sunny graveside...

The birds are getting vocal with Blue, Great and Coal Tits to be seen and heard and Chiffchaffs singing their two-tone song. Some bees are spring specialists and will have finished their adult life-cycle before summer comes around, on the left is a Tawny Mining Bee which makes burrows for its nest in the grass, and below right is a Nomad Bee (which mimics the look of a wasp).



There are lots of Holly trees in the cemetery and these are home to the Holly Blue Butterflies, which are the first of the blue butterflies likely to be seen in the year.



A star plant in the cemetery in April is the small but lovely Meadow Saxifrage, this is an uncommon flower and only found in unimproved pastures and is likely to have been growing in this location long before the cemetery ever was created. It even grows on the grave of Joseph Little (close to the cemetery gates) who was a highly respected amateur botanist, published in national journals, and I can only imagine he would be pleased at the presence of this plant on his plot. 


An unwanted insect in the cemetery is the Box Moth, these are having a devastating effect on the many Box bushes in the cemetery with the caterpillars already at work in April. A rather more welcome visitor was this Hedgehog seen running around the place, there are many fewer Hedgehogs than there used to be in the UK and the cemetery provides some great habitat for them.
 

Quite a number of plants typical of unimproved grassland continue to appear: Good Friday Grass is a very short plant (actually not a grass but Field Wood-Rush) and Meadow Buttercup (as opposed to Creeping Buttercup which you might have as a weed in your garden) shares some space with Bluebells.

 

There was lots to see in April, and there will be May too...



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