Woodvale Cemetery, Brighton

Field meeting reports
Picture of Filipendula vulgaris (Dropwort)
Filipendula vulgaris (Dropwort). Photo: Helen Proctor

Meeting date: 6 June 2018

(Leader: Peter Smith)

Eight members explored the adjacent Woodvale and Extra-Mural Cemeteries as a needed contribution to the Churchyard Project. We applauded the policy of the Cemetery management, which involves leaving large areas of these very extensive cemetery grounds unmown, but with mown paths facilitating access. We were greatly assisted by Tony Spiers’ detailed knowledge of this site. Most notable among our finds was the vigorous population of the local Brighton speciality, Crepis biennis (Rough Hawk’s-beard). Other finds included Hieracium grandidens (Grand-toothed Hawkweed), Kickxia spuria (Round-leaved Fluellen), Diplotaxis muralis (Annual Wall-rocket), Geranium pusillum (Small-flowered Crane’s-bill),a naturalised population of Lathyrus grandiflorus (Two-flowered Everlasting-pea) and a Green Hairstreak butterfly. The spring flora of the site had already yielded more than 100 records, but we now faced the challenge of whether we could draw on the richness and diversity of the site to add sufficient records to surpass the impressive tally of 228 species seen in Seaford Cemetery in 2017. As we notched up the 120th record for the day, making 229 overall, we knew it was time to go home.