The Hardwick Road Cemetery - King's Lynn
The Cemetery is still owned by Borough Council and is coming up to 150 years old, one of the oldest in the country to be owned by a Council. To mark the 150-year anniversary it is proposed to create a "Friends of Hardwick Road Cemetery". In this respect the RSPB West Norfolk Local Group has been asked to survey the site for birds, mammals, trees, shrubs and butterflies. On completion of this survey we are to give our recommendations as to what trees and shrubs will enhance the wildlife within the Cemetery, this will also include the placing of them.

Bearing in mind this is a Cemetery, we are also looking at ways we can improve the breeding facilities for birds and butterflies and associated insect life. This will mean putting up boxes of all types and to make areas of wild plants etc.

Should our recommendations be accepted we will be applying for funds from the "Awards for All" foundation to cover the cost. As the aim of this project is to involve the local community to take an interest in what can be a wildlife refuge within a town. Plus, the wealth of history of people and families who have lived in the area, can be educational and inspiring.

May 27th 2006 saw the launch of “The Friends of Hardwick Road Cemetery” which may not conjure up a great deal of enthusiasm within the mind, but nevertheless there are those of us who believe this to be an exciting project. The day started well enough, but no sooner had we (my usual helpers) got the gazebo up and the display done, when it started to rain. Showers at first and then contrary to the forecast the showers joined together to give a steady fall of rain almost to the end of the function. At least we could pack everything away in the dry, even if the ground was a bit soggy. It was, however, deemed to be a reasonable success in as much as several memberships were taken on board. Now future plans can be formulated as to the needs of the cemetery, including the flora and fauna.

My staunch helpers and I spoke to a few people visiting the site who were impressed with our lists of the birds, mammals and other wildlife already seen in the Cemetery. A few walks were arranged during the day, one of which was to look at the wildlife side, but only two people went round. They did enjoy seeing what was around and were genuinely interested in what we want to achieve. Other walks were to do with the graves and the tragic circumstances and stories behind how the people died and also some of the interesting people buried in the Cemetery. A picture and write up of the event appeared in the “Lynn News”.

I had hoped we might have seen a few of the Group members coming to see what we want to do there, but this wasn’t to be. I guess there is no interest or a bit of rain put people off.
The Cemetery is becoming an oasis within a concrete jungle and with plans for further development around the southern side will be even more so. The next issue on my agenda is to try for some funding to start building up the facilities for birds in particular, but all wildlife within the Cemetery, in the way of boxes, plants and shrubs for breeding and feeding. This could take some time, but I will continue to keep information coming through “The Harnser” on my progress.

Rob Gordon

The Hardwick Road Cemetery - Wildlife, Trees and Shrubs
by Rob Gordon

Over a period of eight months in 2004 a survey was carried out in the Hardwick Road Cemetery to ascertain the value of the area for wildlife and is possibly the first of its kind in the history of the Cemetery. With regular surveys in the future, it could well highlight a potential for giving first hand information as to the health of the local environment; a situation, which, the present day Government is using to measure the state of the environment nationally. The time span chosen was felt to cover all eventualities of each season through the year. One area not covered by the survey was wild plants, although around the periphery these were in evidence; the present activity of grass cutting, to keep the cemetery tidy, could be preventing some valuable growth.

Winter. The typical birds of winter were very much in evidence: sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), stock dove (Columba oenas), woodpigeon (Columba palumbus), collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto), green woodpecker (Picus viridis), great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), wren (Troglodytes troglodytes), dunnock (Prunella modularis), robin (Erithacus rubella), blackbird (Turdus merula), song thrush (Turdus philomelos), redwing (Turdus iliacus), mistle thrush (Turdus viscivorus), longtailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus), coal tit (Parus ater), blue tit (Parus caeruleus), great tit (Parus major), lay (Garrulus glandarius), magpie (Pica pica), jackdaw (Corvus monedula), carrion crow (Corvus carone carone), starling (Sturnus vulgaris), chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), greenfinch (Carduelis chloris), goldfinch(Carduelis carduelis), siskin (Carduelis spinus), redpoll (Carduelis pammeo).

All these birds would be using the Cemetery for feeding and roosting. The majority will also use the Cemetery to breed in and by February will be prospecting for nest sites.

Of the mammals, grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and mole (Talpa europoea) appear to be the only ones using the Cemetery, although at this time no night visits have been made.

Spring. By the end of March both resident to Britain and early breeding migrants were arriving in the Cemetery: kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), goldcrest (Regulus regulus), house sparrow (Passer domesticus), all resident and blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) and chiff chaff (Phylloscopus collybita), breeding migrants. These last two species are known to migrate to the south of Britain to spend the winter. The wintering redwing (Turdus iliacus) by now will have left Britain to breed in eastern Europe. The great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) using the Cemetery in winter left this month to breed elsewhere to return by June; woodpeckers are early breeders. The same may apply to the coal tit (Paras ater) as this bird too reappeared in June.

April saw the arrival of whitethroat (Sylvia communis) another breeding migrant and a chance sighting of bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) a resident to Britain. Greylag goose (Anser anser) is a feral goose which breeds in Britain, but is only likely to feed on the grass in the Cemetery, they definitely will not breed. Two species wintering in the Cemetery and would head off to northern Europe or Scotland are redpoll (Carduelis flammea) and siskin (Carduelis spinus).

Note:- During April a reported hoopoe (Upupa epops) in west Norfolk was seen in the northern section of the Cemetery, this is a very rare visitor to Britain.

Butterflies begin to appear in April and in the Cemetery small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae), orange tip (Anthocharis cardamines), small white (Artogeia rapae) and large white (Pieris brassicae) are readily seen.

May was another good month for spring migrants to arrive, in this case swifts (Apus opus); they come all the way from Africa to breed in roof voids of local houses to the Cemetery. The spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) is known to frequent churchyards and to breed in them, so why not a Cemetery! House martin (Delichon urbico) is another arrival from Africa and will nest under the eaves of adjacent houses. Two British species moving into the Cemetery to breed and possibly using the same tree were nuthatch (Sitta europaea) and treecreeper (Certhia familiaris). A passing through pied wagtail (Mottocilla alba) was only stopping for a quick feed before moving on.

Hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) started to appear together with the resident grey squirrel (Sciurus corolinensis) and rabbit (Oryaologus cuniculus)

Summer. June, July and August were quiet months for wildlife as they get on with their breeding and feeding. It was worthy of note to see an amazing increase in blackbirds (Turdus melula) from 9 in February to 51 in June. The increase being due to a fantastic breading season; the decrease as the young matured was equally stunning.

In June a pair of green woodpeckers (Picus viridus) were with a juvenile, which confirmed they bred in the Cemetery.

There was no further change to the mammal population, although it was apparent that all had bred. Of the butterflies there were the additions of speckled wood (Pararge aegeria) and meadow brown (Maniola jurtino).

The trees and shrubs in the cemetery are many and varied, with a fair proportion of native species. There are also a high number of 'brought in' species, which can be ornamentally pleasing, but not necessarily good for wildlife. There is also a good mix of both deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs, which will benefit wildlife as a whole.

Autumn. October and as the breeding migrants leave the Cemetery for foreign parts and our resident species ready themselves for the winter, so too wintering species start to arrive. It may be that some of these movements will produce different birds to the Cemetery. One such bird was a grey wagtail (Motacilla cinerea); this was frequenting the dykes, which are on two sides of the Cemetery and one cutting through it.

A late butterfly was a wall brown (Losiommata megera). Two dragonflies also in evidence this month were common darter (Sympetrum striolatum) and migrant hawker (Aeshna mixta).

Totals of wildlife in the Cemetery for 2004 were as follows:-
Bird species 45
Mammals 4
Butterflies 7
Dragonflies 2

Special thanks go to David Lake, John Lovett and Mike Steward for their help in carrying out this survey.