By Helen Bovill
The hot, dry weather of the previous month continued into the first half of August, with another mini heatwave to dry out the ground even further. The cemetery had therefore gone without rain for around 8 weeks, the longest dry period I can recall for a considerable amount of time.
The temperature cooled down in the last half of the month. The hoped-for rain I mentioned in last month’s report finally arrived, with steady, sometimes heavy downpours on a number of days. It didn’t take long for its effects to be seen – damp footpaths, small puddles on some of the flat headstones, and fresh green growth springing up in many places.
Trees
In effect the last full month of summer was more like an early autumn, with leaves turning brown and falling to the ground. I saw lots of horse chestnut fruits on the ground, their green spiky cases still intact. This indicates that their contents (which we all know as conkers of course) are unripe, because once ripened the seed case usually splits open when it hits the ground, although I did find an open seed case with a fruit that was only partially ripened. I also found a nibbled, green seedcase on the ground, suggesting a squirrel had tried to open the case, realised the seed wasn’t ripe, and then abandoned it.
In dry, drought-like conditions, trees often shed their leaves and fruits earlier than usual in order to conserve the main body of the tree. They often allow some of their branches to be shed as well by cutting off water and nutrients to some of the medium-sized ones, which then crack and fall to the ground. This is most probably what had happened to one of the cemetery’s large horse chestnut trees, as there hadn’t been any significant windy or stormy conditions at the time. This is the tree on the bottom right of the set of photos.
The leaves and fruits shown on the other photos are all of the tree near the footpath that leads to Thoresby Street School.
Fruits and Flowers
Many of the larger shrubs and bushes now have ripe fruits on them, many in varying shades of deep purple - I saw lots of dogwood berries, elderberries and brambles throughout the cemetery. The pyracantha at the back of the Spring Bank West verge has some red berries developing, and I also saw some snowberry bushes with white fruits on them.
I found a lovely Ivy-leaved Cyclamen in flower this month. I think the rain must have helped the flowers to develop, the plant probably using the rain to prioritise the flowers as I didn’t notice any leaves at the base of their stems. The Toadflax growing on the verge was looking remarkably green despite everything around it being dry and lifeless. I saw hardly any other flowers in and around the cemetery this month.
Dogwood
Elderberries. It looks like some have already been eaten.
Brambles. There are lots of these around the cemetery.
Ivy-leaved Cyclamen
Toadflax
Birds
Despite the dry conditions there were still plenty of birds around, although they weren’t very visible on the hottest days. Nesting season is still underway because I found a newly opened Wood Pigeon egg, so there should still be some young in their nest. They have a longer nesting season than the other birds in the cemetery because they produce a type of milk in their crop (part of the oesophagus) from the food that they eat. Both males and females can do this.
Wood Pigeon in the middle of eating Dogwood berries; Wood Pigeon eggshell
I saw the usual small birds in the cemetery including what looked like a young Chiffchaff, and I also saw a newly-fledged Goldfinch, still being fed by a parent. There were lots of Blue Tits around as usual, and some Great Tits, Chaffinches, Robins, a couple of Coal Tits and a Dunnock.
Goldfinch
Chaffinch
Blue Tit
Insects
It was a very quiet month for insects, with hardly any flowers to provide nectar for them. I saw quite a few Small White butterflies in the hot weather earlier in the month, mainly flying low looking for suitable places to lay their eggs. I saw the occasional Speckled Wood but that was all – this was the lowest amount of butterflies I’ve ever seen in a month. I saw a few hoverflies and some ladybirds - native 7-Spot and Harlequin - but nothing in high numbers.
Fungi
It’s been a bumper month for fungi in the cemetery, my best find being a lovely Chicken of the Woods. It was interesting to see how its appearance changed over the space of just a few days. I also found what I think is a Yellow Fieldcap. It looked a bit battered but hopefully some more will appear close by. That’s two new species I’ve been able to add to our dedicated project page on iNaturalist!
Chicken of the Woods when I first saw it (left); and 4 days later (right)
The fungi have certainly benefited from the recent rain, and I found some rather wet Jelly Ear and a tiny mushroom that I think might be a Pleated Inkcap. The large Lumpy Bracket that has been growing at the base of another one of the horse chestnut trees for several years has some fresh growth on it. But the commonest species of fungus in the cemetery is the Dryad’s Saddle. The one I reported on last month is still there but in a state of decay, and I found a new one in a different part of the cemetery.
Yellow Fieldcap
Pleated Inkcap
Lumpy Bracket
Dryad's Saddle
Conclusion
To use a football phrase (and why not? The cemetery is only a mile away from the stadium where our Premiership football team, Hull City is based), this has been a month of two halves, starting with a mini heatwave and ending with some cooler rainy weather. The footpaths in the cemetery are now a bit damp, but there are no muddy puddles on any of them yet, so walking is easy and there is plenty to see and listen to as you enjoy your stroll.
Squirrel of the month. See you next time!
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