Hitchin Cemetery Aug-Sep 2025
Hitchin Cemetery August-September 2025 As usual August saw the cemetery visited by numerous butterflies, some of which were getting towards the end of the their flight period. Here are a Common Blue and the last Gatekeeper of the year. Other insects making an appearance included a Hornet Mimic Hoverfly and a Red-legged Shieldbug A rather non-descript flower popped up, but an interesting one: Musk Stork's-bill. Joseph Little, the first head of Hitchin Boy's School is buried in the cemetery and was a keen plant collector and collected a specimen of this plant from Great Wymondley in 1928. He described it as a "Wool alien" meaning that he thought it had been introduced to the area as part of the fertilizer made from the waste product of the wool industry. Joseph's original pressed specimen (below right) is now held by the South London Botanical Institute and can be viewed on-line. As usual the regular Friday volunteers continue to meet to work on the older ...