Our Living Churchyard in SEPTEMBER

I start by thanking all those who volunteered to help with the cutting and raking of the grass at the beginning of September. In spite of our efforts to limit the fertility of the soil, there’s still a significant quantity of grass to be removed. Not a simple job – the size of the anthills makes cutting a much slower job than it would be on smooth ground, and the raking also more difficult. But this work is vital to the maintenance of the habitat, and your participation is vital to being able to complete this.

At this time of year, the tall grasses which are turning a golden colour as autumn approaches would suggest that there is nothing left alive beneath them. But the insects get up close and personal with the sward, and a closer examination reveals what bounty there still is there. As I walk onto the meadow, my first sighting is of a Small Copper butterfly. I often see them here at this time of year: they would be second brood insects. Surprisingly, I’ve never seen one earlier in the year: why we see the second brood but not the first is something for which I have no explanation. They may go on to have a third brood in September and October. They lay their eggs on common sorrel and sheep’s sorrel, both of which are abundant in the churchyard.

Another species of which I see the second brood, but not the first, every year is the Common Blue. This favours Birds-foot trefoil and Greater birds-foot trefoil, both of which are still in bloom below the long grass – two of the nine species of flower that I counted on my visit.

This is probably also the peak season for grasshoppers. If you walk through the long grass you will see them jumping with every step you take. But the warm summer this year has been particularly remarkable for butterflies. Many species have been seen in numbers twice or more what were recorded in the damp squib of a summer that we saw last year. A species which has been extinct in this country, the Southern Small

White, has been the subject of two verified sightings. And the warm weather, and abundance of butterflies, have inspired citizen scientists to go out in great numbers to record them in the Big Butterfly Count: more than 100,000 volunteers have contributed over 160,000 records, vital data which will inform how research work and conservation activity should be directed. Results will be announced in September.

Nigel Symington