The ‘Living’ Churchyard - August

by Nigel Symington

The breezes and the sunshine and the soft, refreshing rain. Well we haven’t had much of the second of these but we’ve had more than our usual share of the first and third. So how would our wildlife be affected by this extraordinary summer? It was with some trepidation that I went to the churchyard to see what was there in early August. I picked my moment carefully when the sun was shining and I wasn’t disappointed.

The wild flowers and the grasses are all growing in abundance, and I found no fewer than 9 different flowers in bloom. All the old insect friends were there: the beautiful warm orange of the Gatekeeper and Small Copper complemented the sky-blue flashes of the Common Blue, which seemed to be more abundant than in past years. But these have been joined by two species this year which I haven’t seen here before. One of our smaller butterflies with a rapid flight and a pale underwing, the Brown Argus is easy to overlook as it flickers over the taller grasses. But when it comes to rest with its wings open, its dark chocolate brown upper wings with glowing orange lunges round the edge give it a special beauty which is hard to miss.

Suddenly a small moth flops down into the grass by my feet. On a dull metallic brown background, three silver spots fuse to form a single spot in the shape of a letter Y, which gives it its name, the Silver Y. It is not an uncommon moth and flies all year round both by day and by night. Nevertheless it’s most encouraging to see these two new visitors taking up residence in the churchyard.

Many thanks to all those who helped with cutting and raking the grass in early July. Your help was so much appreciated. This year, it is planned to cut all the grass in the area in early September: removing all the arisings stops them composting into the soil, so reducing the fertility and thus inhibiting the growth of grasses which crowd out other wild flowers on which insects feed.