By Helen Bovill
September was a typical mid-autumn month, starting with some cool, rainy and often rather windy weather. There were mild, sunny days too, but no extreme weather events.
After observing mist rising above the fields during a train journey one morning, I wondered if the same thing might be observed a bit closer to home, so the next day just after sunrise I went into Western Cemetery and there it was! I wasn’t expecting to see the same in the adjoining Hull General Cemetery, which is much more sheltered with no large open areas. But there was still enough moisture in the air for the recently risen sun to illuminate, and the resulting shafts of light looked almost solid.
Western Cemetery and Thoresby Street school. Hull General lies to the right of the photo.
Hull General Cemetery southern path.
Birds
Most days when I walk through the cemetery I see Goldfinches (pictured at the start of this report), usually in small groups of 4 or 5. If I don’t see them then I hear them, twittering to each other high in the trees. Their main diet is seeds and fruit, and there is plenty of that in the cemetery at the moment. I saw the usual small birds this month – Wrens, Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Great Tits and Long-tailed Tits, Chaffinches and Blackbirds. I saw some Carrion Crows and Wood Pigeons, but I didn’t notice any Stock Doves this month. I also got a quick glimpse of a Treecreeper in the Quaker Burial Ground.
Wren
Blue Tit
Coal Tit
Blackbird (female) eating Pyracantha berries
Wood Pigeon
Plants
I didn’t find many plants in flower this month. There were a few dandelions and buttercups on the verge alongside the cemetery, and the Musk Mallow and Toadflax are still in flower. I also found a flower on the almost dead thistles. But I was very surprised to see the Forsythia near the main gates had a few fresh flowers on it! This is a plant that erupts in a blaze of bright yellow flowers in spring, before its leaves open.
I also found a plant I’d never noticed before – a Stinking Iris. Its red berries made it really stand out against the nearby vegetation. I couldn’t understand why I’d never seen it in flower, but it seems like the flowers only last a day or two, so that’s probably why.
Toadflax
Thistle and 7-Spot Ladybird
Forsythia
Stinking Iris
But the plant with the most flowers on it at the moment is the Ivy, and some days I noticed several bees, wasps and hoverflies feeding on it, especially on the warmer sunny days. This is a good source of nectar when there are few plants in flower elsewhere.
Ivy in flower earlier this month
Unfortunately, at the beginning of the month a member of the public decided to kill the Ivy that was climbing up the trees. They did this by using a small chainsaw to cut the Ivy stems low down on the tree trunks. This person, who is not one of the cemetery volunteers, was apprehended and told to stop doing this, and that it is not the FoHGC’s policy to manage the Ivy in this way. Appendix 4 section 6 (ix) of Norfolk County Council’s Tree Safety Management Policy sets out how Ivy on trees should be dealt with when it becomes a problem, and at our most recent meeting with representatives of Hull City Council a senior officer confirmed that this is also how Hull City Council would proceed.
I counted the number of trees affected – around 60 – and I’ve already started to see the effects of the cutting in some of the affected areas as the slowly dying Ivy starts to shed its leaves, resulting in the ground being carpeted in green.
Insects and Other Small Creatures
I managed to spot 5 different species of butterfly, all in the first half of the month. The ever-reliable Speckled Wood was the one I saw the most, and I also saw Small White, Large White, Comma and Red Admiral. There were still plenty of Ladybirds around, a mixture of Harlequin and native 7-spot ones, plus a few bees and hoverflies.
I also found a tiny Strawberry Snail atop a headstone.
Comma
Red Admiral
Strawberry Snail
Fungi
It’s been an unexpected and bumper month for fungi, with various types being visible all over the cemetery, some in places I hadn’t noticed them in before. The weather last month and this month seems to have created the perfect conditions for them to flourish and there are plenty of rotting logs for them to grow on. Fungi can be quite difficult to identify as several species look similar, so this is only what I think they could be, with some assistance from iNaturalist.
Button Mushroom
Clustered Brittlestem
Clustered Brittlestem. It can vary in colour.
Sulphur Tuft on a rotting log
Artist's Bracket
Scaly Earthball
Red Edge Brittlestem
Conclusion
October ended with a very mild but damp Halloween. Overall it was a cooler, wetter month resulting in a few muddy areas developing on some parts of the footpaths. But the cemetery looks lovely with the trees starting to look very autumnal, and is a great place for a scenic walk just a mile from the city centre!
Squirrel of the month. See you next time!
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