What a difference a week makes

Habitat management at Newtown Road Cemetery

On our open evening on Wednesday June 20^th the grasses and plants had been left to grow since the winter. On July 2^nd we welcomed Greenham Cubs for an activity in the cemetery and by this time most of the cemetery had been strimmed and cleared. How different it looked!

The cemetery is managed as an area of ‘unimproved grassland’, quite rare in this part of the world;  treated neither with fertilized of weed-killer. The two areas of common graves (very few headstones) are left to grow all year, the paths are cut regularly and all the other areas are strimmed occasionally. This ensures different habitats throughout the year providing food and homes for a wide variety of flora and fauna. On Midsummer Evening we trapped 43 different types of moth, there’ll probably be far fewer now, though no-one has actually checked that.

We would love a volunteer who would lead on identifying flowers and grasses and video night time activity – all so we find out more about this fascinating, beautiful resource dead center of Newbury.