By Helen Bovill
November was a very wet month indeed – the wettest I’ve seen for a long time. There was rain on two-thirds of the days, varying from light to heavy downpours; intermittent showers to days of continual rain, and even hailstones on one day. There was only a couple of very cold days with a light frost to start though, and on one of those days there was some snow but, mixed in with rain, it didn’t settle for very long and was soon gone. Some of the other days were just mild and dull, with only a few sunny ones to brighten the month. But the overall effect was that it is now very wet everywhere in the cemetery.
Plants
The tree trunks and branches look very dark with all the rain that has fallen on them, but there is still lots of autumn colour around. Fruits are ripening nicely – the photo above shows Ash keys, also known as samaras, after one of those rain showers. I often saw Goldfinches eating them. There are also berries on the Holly, Mountain Ash, Snowberry and Pyracantha.
I only found a few plants in flower including Smooth Sow-thistle, Dandelions, Ivy, Hogweed and Shepherd’s-Purse. The Musk Mallow, which has been in flower on the Spring Bank West verge since at least May, continues to flower despite the cold wet weather.
Norway Maple
Shepherd's-Purse
Musk Mallow
Snowberry
Hogweed
Pyracantha
Birds
I was very happy to see a Pied Wagtail on several days this month, and I saw two together one day. The first time I saw one in the cemetery was back in December last year and I thought it was a one-off, but seeeing them regularly this month, either inside the cemetery or on the Spring Bank West verge, makes me hope they will become regulars here. The Pied Wagtail seen in the UK is a sub-species of the White Wagtail found in mainland Europe.
I watched one walking along the path, constantly looking for insects amongst the fallen leaves, and saw one with an insect in its beak. The bird would then fly close to the ground for a few metres, then land and carry on looking under the leaves. Although insects form a large part of their diet, they can also eat seeds.
Apart from a brief glimpse of a Goldcrest, I only saw our regular species, and they’re getting easier to see in the trees now most of the leaves have fallen.
Pied Wagtail - Motacilla Alba ssp. yarrellii
Great Tit, taken on that one snowy day
Dunnock
Insects
There were still a few insects around, including wasps, flies, hoverflies and a Green Shield Bug. I was hoping I might see a butterfly (I saw two different species this time last year) but it just wasn’t warm enough or sunny enough for them. Ladybirds were still around – there’s a 7-spot one on the Pied Wagtail photo, just underneath the end of its tail!
Green Shield Bug
Marmalade Hoverfly on Dandelion
Common Flower Fly on Ivy flowers
Fungi
I didn’t find as much fungi as I did last month, but I did find some Jelly Ear, and a species I’d never seen in the cemetery before which I believe is a Variable Oysterling.
Jelly Ear
Variable Oysterling - this shows the underside of the fungi
Mammals
We were contacted recently by the Hull branch of The Mammal Society – they wanted to carry out a survey to see if there were any Harvest Mice in the cemetery. I don’t normally have a dedicated section for mammals in my reports because apart from squirrels there are very few other species around, and certainly not ones I can rely on seeing regularly each month. So this seemed like an ideal opportunity to find out more about what other mammals may be present in the cemetery.
I took their team leader around the cemetery one Monday to look at potential mouse habitat. The next Monday she returned with a small team of volunteers and they carried out a thorough search of the cemetery. They didn’t find any evidence of Harvest Mice but they did find evidence of other small mammals, such as tunnels for entering and exiting log piles, burrows in the ground and digging marks around some of the headstones. They also found what could be a deer footprint, either Roe or possibly Muntjac. And they noticed the smell of fox urine in several places, but they didn’t find any droppings or tracks.
Interestingly they didn’t find any rats – the only mammals they actually saw were squirrels. It was an enjoyable day both for the Mammal Society volunteers and the cemetery volunteers, learning about each other’s work.
Then a couple of days later I had a walk around the cemetery and I was thrilled to see a Fox! I even managed to get a quick photograph as I watched it walk away into the undergrowth. I find it amazing that animals of that size can live in the cemetery, largely unseen by humans, and I hope it continues to be that way.
Mammal Society volunteers looking at a possible deer footprint
Fox
Conclusion
November was the wettest I’ve known for ages, with only a few dry sunny days. So if you’re planning on doing one of those strolls around the cemetery I usually recommend at the end of my reports, I would just add that either wellies or sturdy walking boots are essential at the moment!
A slightly snowy squirrel of the month. See you next time!
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