Insects

Two recent things brought insects into focus for me again, one was a trip to Lincolnshire in May where the weather driving down was very warm and on arrival I observed the the front of the car had more dead bugs on than I had seen for years. The second was the return at home of Swifts screaming around the house in an aerial display that would not disgrace the red arrows. Two indicators that we have more insects about in general than recent years. Swifts feed in flight on flying insects such as hoverflies. There is a national movement to put up more Swift boxes and even incorporate swift habitats in the form of special bricks in new builds. Old Glossop Residents Association who we work closely with are very keen on providing Swift habitats locally. Hoverflies feed on nectar as do other insects but unlike most insects they need to feed on flatter flower heads or Umbellifers broad flowerheads made up of lots of little flowers like Cow Parsley. So Umbellifers are on the planting list! Finally it was interesting to note that Chris Packham  on Springwatch this year remarked that the insect population was up. All good news and fingers crossed it is not a blip. 

Digitalis

 

Things have been happening in the churchyard, on a sad but realistic note in terms of safety we have had to have the branches removed from a tree because they were diseased and the main trunk is all that remains standing, on the plus side the removal of tree canopy means we have a whole area next to the path which now gets more sunlight and means therefore we can plant out some species to attract pollinators. Elsewhere we have Foxgloves or Digitalis popping up between the gravestones and adjacent to the path. It has been a long time wish to establish Foxgloves and get the cycle of seed to plants working. Foxgloves are biannual, setting seed, germinating and then finally flowering in the second year before setting seed and dying back in the autumn of the second year. If we have succeeded in getting this cycle established then it is very exciting and gratifying to observe the bees buzzing around to collect the pollen and nectar. In the meantime I have been looking into how we can attract more butterflies in fact the new area I mentioned before would be ideal to develop and plant out with sympathetic plant species.

Until next time.....

Preparations and planting

April has seen some decent weather and it has been nice to work in the churchyard with the sun on your back. After the success of the sweet peas last year we decided to tidy around the frame and put some wood around the bottom to retain more compost therefore hopefully being more resilient to dry weather, the wood used was windfall from around the churchyard therefore giving the natural look we aim for. Elsewhere we have continued clearing between grave slab edges particularly where they are narrow gaps making excellent planting areas for plants tolerant of this type of habitat also they nicely soften the edges and being thymes are excellent for pollinators. 

Uncovering The Past part 3

March has been relatively dry and this has had an unforseen advantage in that a couple of the graves that on preliminary investigation  last year looked difficult to clean with a wet matted mass of roots and compacted leaf mould on the surface, however the dry state meant we could separate the compost and roots enabling us to trim the roots back. A light scrub and the surface is perfectly legible. The first one we have tidied up in this way is the grave of one Richard Lee of Hadfield , research reveals little on his background apart from the fact he was a wood turner, a busy occupation making spools for the cotton mills, the second one further up the churchyard is one Michael Jackson of Glossop died 20th January 1847 we still need to clean the surface of this one and do some research. Elsewhere we have planted out some Allium bulbs 'in the green' as they say, a number of varieties but one in particular I am looking forward to seeing is a very tall white variety called appropriately enough Everest. Until next time. 

February

 I am an early riser so the progress to lighter mornings is something I look forward to, this February it seems to have taken longer for the days to become lighter however we are now definitely at that point at the end of the month. The light in the churchyard always interests me with the effect of no tree canopy on a sunny day things are obviously lighter and plants start to come into growth, bulbs push through and elsewhere the new growth has lovely fresh shades of green particularly the honeysuckle rambling over the dead hedge. In the lower churchyard one of our team has done a splendid job of removing dead winter grass revealing a splendid view of snowdrops etc. Our various varieties of Alliums planted in pots last Autumn are doing very well and are ready to plant out which brings me to the point time to get some seeds sown under cover in fact another team member has sown some sweet Pea seeds harvested from last year's crop. As these were so successful last year we intend to make and erect a bigger growing frame. All very encouraging.

January 2025

 

January, the month that is 'midwinter' and it has lived up to that with a good mixed bag of cold wet and wintery weather with few Saturdays fit for working in the churchyard which is frustrating but a sunny Saturday morning was gratefully seized and quite a lot of clearing up was achieved and equally gratifying to observe the shoots of bulbs bravely pushing up shoots. A lot of last seasons leaves were cleared up and bagged, particularly from graves and the path opposite the South Porch door. Pausing for a mug of tea I was amused by the antics of a Blackbird and Robin rooting along the freshly cleared path obviously unearthing something worth eating.

December 2024

 

The colour of Springtime is in the flowers; the colour of Winter is in the imagination. Terri Guillemets. 

I am writing this on the last day of December 2024 so the shortest day the 21st has passed and we continue the long journey through Winter and into Spring. My Gardener's Almanac by Mr Alan Titchmarsh (a treasury of wisdom and inspiration through the year) also laments the lack of colour and suggests looking through seed catalogues for inspiration for the coming growing season and this has not been lost on us, we have collected together packets of seeds for sowing in springtime, with every intention of increasing the size of our Sweet Pea display. I put the opening quote on this entry because normally I would expect just so but imagine our delight on looking around the churchyard and finding the odd spot of colour here and there. I leave you with some pictures.

Wishing everyone all the very best for 2025 from The Friends of Old Glossop Churchyard Team.