Local Wildlife Site

Wildlife

A very large cemetery with a good range of habitats. The grass between the graves is mown short, but some areas show an acid influence, with species such as the locally scarce mouse-ear hawkweed (Pilosella officinarum). The gravestones themselves support a diverse lichen community. There is a small patch of secondary woodland, with a canopy of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur), ash (Fraxinus excelsior), sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) and poplar (Poulus sp.) over a dense shrub layer. The rest of the cemetery contains numerous mature trees of a wide variety of species. These support a diverse community of breeding birds, including all three woodpeckers, sparrowhawk, nuthatch, treecreeper, willow warbler, blackcap and chiffchaff. Good numbers of migrant birds pass through in spring and autumn. To the east of the cemetery runs the Alder's Brook, a tributary of the River Roding. This supports abundant marginal and emergent vegetation, dominated by great reedmace (Typha latifolia) and reed canary-grass (Phalaris arundinacea), but with numerous other species including the locally scarce water chickweed (Myosoton aquaticum), purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) and marsh woundwort (Stachys palustris). There is free public access to the cemetery, and a public footpath runs beside the brook. The Cemetery won a Green Flag Award again for 2006/7.