Hitchin Wildlife

 Hitchin Cemetery April - May 2023 The cool weather in spring has meant that flowering plants have been slow to get going this year, but the damp conditions have made for some lush growing conditions. The star plant of the cemetery is Meadow Saxifrage, this delicate little white flower is a native plant that is a species of old grassland and these days can only be found in a few old churchyards and damp hay meadows. This year has been its best ever year in the cemetery with over 500 plants! The left hand photo shows a little orange-topped cane next to an outlying clump to help the mowing team work around it as it spreads around the cemetery but the biggest patch (right hand photo) is just by the gates on St John's Road.  I just want to bang on a little more about Meadow Saxifrage as it is a super plant and indicates the importance of the cemetery as a wildlife refuge in Hitchin. North Herts Council own & maintain the cemetery (using subcontractors and a little help from th...

 Jan-Mar 2023 January There were a few days of snowy weather in January and I noticed several people taking advantage of photogenic conditions around the cemetery & here is one of my efforts looking through the railings adorned with frosty cobwebs. The Friends of Hitchin Cemetery took delivery of some bat and bird boxes, bought with a grant received from the developers of the new Bethel Court properties which adjoin the cemetery. The bird boxes are made from "woodcrete" and are designed to last many years and have been deployed around the cemetery using rubber strapping so as to avoid the need to damage any trees with nails or screws. The bat boxes will find a home high up on the chapel walls and will be installed by someone suitably qualified to work up a high ladder. February - Naturalists Visit There was a visit in February by the Hertfordshire branch of the British Naturalists Association who have an array of experts who can find all sorts of wildlife even in the midd...

   Hitchin Cemetery October to December 2022 Having been inspected by an assessor earlier in the year, in October the Friends of Hitchin Cemetery were delighted to receive an award recognising their work for the community and the environment from the Council for the Protection of Rural England. This helps us spread the word that the cemetery is an important asset to the Hitchin area. (Apologies to Hilary who is missing from the Friends photo). The final months of the year are still busy one for the volunteers with lots of jobs to do, tending graves and borders and especially hedge trimming now that the bird nesting season is well and truly finished. This year the bushes are a little easier to cut as we now have our very own hedge trimmer paid for by the developers of the Bethel Court houses. We have more of the developers grant left over to spend on tools, bird boxes and bat boxes which we look forward to installing over the coming months.    Autumn interest in the c...

  Cemetery Engagement Ideas - Junior School A Victorian cemetery off St John’s Road, Hitchin. It is a location which is safely away from traffic and provides a mixture of both historical and wildlife interest. There is the possibility to make use of the leaders of the cemetery tours (Veronica Gardner & Phil Barron) to provide extra information. Where   Hitchin Cemetery St John’s Road   What ·        5.64 hectares ·        Owned by NHDC ·        Managed jointly by NHDC & Countryside Management Service volunteers ·        Three separate sections based on the age of the burials ·        Oldest, mostly Victorian part most interesting. ·        Variety of graves: indicate relative wealth & religion · ...

 Hitchin Cemetery August & September 2022 The most significant event during August & September was the presentation of a long service award (garden centre voucher) to Betty for her work for over twenty years as a volunteer for the Countryside Management Service. Betty is the hardest working volunteer at the cemetery, keeping going for long hours in all weathers: note the muddy knees!  Betty has been used to hard  work having been a nurse all her working life. I won't embarrass her by disclosing her age, but she mentioned that she was one of those people who camped out all night to see the coronation in 1953 (a bit of rain never put her off then and it doesn't now), at the time she was working as trainee nurse at Great Ormond Street and it was just luck that her days off coincided with the coronation.    Compared to the above event, the cemetery wildlife was on the quiet side during August and September as the summer heatwave meant much of the grass had t...