By Helen Bovill
What a wet month January has been! With rain of varying degrees on more days than not, the ground throughout the cemetery became saturated and rather muddy, especially in the places where the vegetation is thin on the ground. At least the puddles have provided a good source of drinking and bathing water for the cemetery wildlife, the most useful and longer-lasting being the ones formed in tree hollows.
Rainwater pool in tree hollow - one of several all over the cemetery
Birds
This report starts with a Goldfinch, which I took on one of the few days when there was a very light fall of snow. It was cold too, with the small birds fluffing themselves up to keep warm. They are always much easier to observe at this time of the year when there are no leaves on most of the trees. I saw all the usual birds this month including Chaffinches, Dunnocks, Wrens, Blackbirds, and all four species of tit that can be found in the cemetery. I was delighted to see a Treecreeper, as I don’t see them very often.
Blue Tit, resting on one foot to keep the other one warm
Great Tit
Coal Tit
Long-tailed tit
Chaffinch (male)
Treecreeper
Trees and Plants
It was a relief that the named storms that affected other parts of the UK in January didn't really affect Hull and therefore the cemetery, other than several small and medium-sized branches breaking off the trees when the wind picked up a bit. These were quickly cleared by the volunteers and turned into chippings for repairing the footpaths.
Evergreen shrubs such as Privet and Ivy add some welcome shades of green to the cemetery’s colour palette. The Hazels are still in flower. The Blackthorn, which started flowering in December, has even more buds on it now and should look good next month.
Privet and Robin
Hazel flowers. These are female and are found on the same plant as the male flowers. The trees don't self-pollinate though - they need a separate tree for successful pollination.
Wood Pigeon eating Ivy berries. I was surprised to see it eating green berries; I assumed they only ate the dark, ripe ones.
And on the same tree - the male flowers, also known as catkins.
Elsewhere, and especially along the Spring Bank West verge, I found a couple of Dandelions in flower. I saw quite a number of Lesser Celandines in full flower later in the month, and their leaves are now carpeting the ground in several places along the verge. Snowdrops are open just about everywhere in the cemetery now, and I even found a few Daffodils very close to flowering.
Last year’s fruits still seem to be providing food for the cemetery wildlife – earlier in the month I found what look like nibbled berries, nuts or seeds of some kind on the bench in the Quaker Burial Ground. I don’t know if they’ve been eaten by birds or mammals.
Lesser Celandine and frost, taken near the start of the month
Snowdrops
Daffodil buds
Mystery nibbles!
Fungi
Jelly Ear was the species I saw most often this month. I also saw a few types of bracket and crust fungi in various places around the cemetery, but I couldn’t identify them with any certainty. But I was able to identify the very distinctive Yellow Brain though – my first sighting of this species anywhere. I actually found two, in completely different parts of the cemetery. The species often goes unnoticed, only standing out and becoming easily visible after rainfall.
Jelly Ear
Yellow Brain
Yellow Brain in a different part of the cemetery
Insects
I found lots of Ladybirds this month. The ones I found earlier in the month were all clustered together in sheltered places in small overwintering groups. But later in the month I also found several that were active, especially in sunny spots on leaves and headstones. I saw a few small flies in the air on the sunnier days, and I also saw some tiny insects on the fungi, although I only noticed them when I viewed my photos on a computer screen. But on the last day of the month I was very surprised to see a Marmalade Hoverfly. This species hibernates in the winter but does emerge on milder sunny days to feed on nectar.
7-Spot Ladybirds hibernating on a Hogweed seed head
Marmalade Hoverfly on Lesser Celandine, seen on the last day of the month
Conclusion
The year started off with a very cold sunny morning but there were far more dull, rainy days than sunny ones. There was even a light dusting of snow on a couple of the colder days, and some frosty mornings too. The ground inside the cemetery has become rather wet and muddy, and those strolls around the cemetery I usually recommend should be made in sturdy, waterproof footwear this time, as not all the footpaths have been treated with wood chippings yet. But there is so much nature to enjoy that it is more than worth it, especially on bright, sunny mornings.
Squirrel of the month, eating Ash seeds. See you next time!
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