By Helen Bovill
September saw a complete change to the weather we’d got used to in the summer, with cooler temperatures and rain on several days. It rained continually, varying from heavy drizzle to torrential bursts, for well over half of one of those days. I had a walk around the cemetery the next day, and noticed many pools of water on leaves, on the ground, and on some of the headstones.
There is no natural source of water in the cemetery, so this has provided the wildlife with some fresh bathing and drinking water albeit of a temporary nature.
Plants With Flowers
During the middle of the month, Hull City Council mowed part of the Spring Bank West verge from Princes Avenue down to the cemetery gates. This was its usual end of year cut. The amount of summer flowers growing in that area was tiny by this time, and I’d struggled to find anything of note growing there.
On the other part of the verge and inside the cemetery I still managed to find all the flowers I mentioned in my last report, but in much lower numbers. I also found a few Wood Avens still in flower, Goundsel, Hogweed and Smooth Sow-Thistle.
Hogweed
Smooth Sow-Thistle
So I started looking more closely at plants that on first glance don’t appear to have any flowers, and found some Greater Plantain. This is a plant you can walk past all the time without really noticing it – the leaves will be very familiar because the plant seems to grow just about anywhere. This is the first time I took a closer look, and realised those tall spikes are its flowers.
Hedge Mustard has a tiny yellow flower, but this looks huge when compared to the tiny flowers of Common Knotgrass and Orache.
Greater Plantain
Hedge Mustard
Common Knotgrass
Orache
Plants With Berries
I found some berries on a Wrinkled Viburnum. This is the first time I’d ever noticed berries on this plant. At the very start of the month the berries were all red, with black ones starting to appear a week later. Interestingly there didn’t seem to be an intermediate colour – the berries were either red or black. But it wasn’t long until the cemetery wildlife found the berries, and a few days before the end of the month they were nearly gone.
Insects
I saw several Small Whites, pictured at the start of this report, and Speckled Woods – the two most abundant species in the cemetery. I also saw a Green-veined White and I got a brief glimpse of a Red Admiral one day.
Speckled Woods in the Quaker Burial Ground
Despite the cooler temperatures I still managed to find some other insects including a few different types of hoverfly, and there were still lots of our native 7-Spot Ladybirds everywhere I looked in the cemetery. Earlier in the year it seemed to be just Harlequin ones that were everywhere; this month I found only one of them.
Hornet Mimic Hoverfly
Common Flower Fly
7-Spot Ladybirds
Harlequin Ladybird
Birds
I saw all our usual species this month – Blue, Great and Coal Tits; Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Dunnocks, Robins, Wrens and Blackbirds. The Crows and Magpies have been particularly vociferous these past few weeks, and I saw plenty of Robins – one in particular watched with great interest as I worked with some of the volunteers one day, no doubt hoping we’d unearthed some worms.
I got a fleeting glimpse of what I think was a Sparrowhawk flying silently through the trees, but one bird I did get a better view of was a Chiffchaff. I usually identify them from their distinctive call, but this one was silent. But as they fly, you can see that they’re a different colour to our other brown birds.
Carrion Crow
Robin
Chiffchaff
Foxes and Fungi
Early one morning I was thrilled to see two foxes. One was clearly smaller than the other, probably a juvenile with a parent. However they disappeared before I managed to get a photo.
The Dryad’s Saddle fungi I saw last month are still there, but looking rather battered after all the rain we’ve had. I did find a small group of other fungi which I think are Glistening Inkcaps.
Glistening Inkcaps
Conclusion
The varied weather we’ve had in September is a good reflection of the fact that it’s now autumn. The lighter rain earlier in the month seems to have gradually soaked into and softened the previously dry ground, so that when there was a spell of much heavier rain in the middle of the month it didn’t turn the footpaths into muddy tracks. The dry summer weather and human footfall through the cemetery has now exposed the original gravel surface of the footpaths in many places, especially along the southern path. So once again I would encourage you to come along and enjoy a walk around the cemetery – there is so much to see and hear in this green urban oasis!
Squirrel of the month, exploring the newly mown verge. See you next time!
Share this post: