Hitchin Wildlife

 Hitchin Cemetery Apr-May 2024 The cemetery is a lovely place to visit at any time of the year, but in late spring it really looks attractive, with the fresh greens of Silver Birches, Lime trees and meadow grass making a lovely contrast with the spring flowers. The best plant in the cemetery in my view is Meadow Saxifrage and it is thriving like never before, with around a thousand plants. Meadow Saxifrage is a good indicator of old grassland and demonstrates that the cemetery has special conditions which have been lost from much of the countryside elsewhere. A special mention must be made of the mowing teams who take care to strim around the Meadow Saxifrage and I asked Steve Grainger, an expert local photographer, to take some photos and this is one of his. It is important to remember that the meadow area contains not just showy plants but many unassuming species such as Ribwort Plantain (below left) and Sorrel, and it is not just flowers which provide food for invertebrates...

Hitchin Cemetery Jan-Mar 2024 The generally mild winter weather meant that the early spring flowers got off to a flying start, such as these lovely bright yellow Winter Aconites. A few wildlife sightings were made which would not have happened at all in frostier weather: several Earth Ball fungi (I think) were growing, which eject spores from a little hole on top when they are hit by raindrops, and a strangely flat, oval insect, an Eared Leafhopper was tempted out in to plain view on a Birch trunk whereas it would normally be tucked away out of sight. One of the winter activities of the Cemetery Friends group was finding use for the compost from our extensive heap. The photo below shows John taking a breather from loading barrows which, with much communal effort, were dispatched to all corners of the cemetery. As a result various graves have now had broken concrete replaced with a good growing medium and we will see what plants we can introduce to add interest. Incidentally if anyone h...

  Hitchin Cemetery October - December 2023 The back end of the year seemed a little wetter than average and various fungi were seen pushing up through the grass including many conventional parasol-shaped ones and also puff balls, which eject their spores from a little hole on top when hit by raindrops. Some of the cemetery fungi such as Parrot Waxcaps (not shown) are indicators of a good meadows which have been kept free from fertilizers, insecticides & weed-killers.   Late insects were taking advantage of the cemetery well in to November, such a Southern Oak Bush Cricket, found resting on a Beech tree trunk with its very long antennae (tricky to see in the photo). Also spotted was a very tiny Bark Louse found under a leaf, this is the sort of insect found in abundance but so small they are difficult for us humans to see and are the type of food that birds search for under fallen leaves all through the winter.  The seven bird boxes which were installed earlier in the ...

  Hitchin Cemetery Aug-Sep 2023 The end of summer saw the wildflowers in the meadow areas taking on a brown look and turning to seed. Where the flowers (and insects) did persist, some of them were looking a bit worn, like the Six Spot Burnett moth below.  One plant which flowers later than most is Wild Carrot of which there is a lot growing in the meadow areas, their flowers often having a tiny little spot in the middle just visible, below left. There is a theory that the reason the dark area exists is to try and deter a little parasitic fly ( Kiefferia pericarpiicola ) which lays its eggs on the seedhead which then develop into tiny pink galls. The idea is that if a fly investigates a seed head and detects the dark area it might reason that a competitor has already laid her eggs there and then move on to the next flower. I'm not sure there is much good evidence for this as this flower from the cemetery has both the dark area and the galls. Below right is Turnip Sawfly wh...

 Hitchin Cemetery June-July 2023 The flower-rich meadow areas of the cemetery were full of butterflies, bees and hoverflies during June and July and the history and wildlife delights of the cemetery have been shared with Hitchin residents with four hour-long guided tours. We plan more tours next year, but some of this year's have proved rather too popular (there were 46 people turned up for a Friday tour) and we will instigate a booking system for all the tours in future. Also a special mention to those who came on the final tour this year when the rain descended: thankyou for sticking it out! Some of the graves tended by the cemetery Friends group have been looking particularly good, with bright pink flowers of thrift and the blue flowers of Lacy Phacelia which is absolutely loved by all sorts of bees.    One plant that can be found in plenty of places in the meadow areas is the yellow St John's Wort, named after the fact it can be found in flower on St John's Day, 24th ...