Conservation Management
Thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund and the efforts of many local long term volunteers, a sensitive restoration program is well under-way.
Whilst the conservation management priority is to provide access to visitors of graves and the listed monuments, the cemetery is also being managed as a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI).
The landscape management plan focuses on conserving the existing grassland and woodland habitats and improving their quality to benefit wildlife. The woodland is being managed through selective thinning; to improve the canopy structure and encourage biodiversity.
Areas of scrub and bramble are being managed, not through total clearance, but through rotational cutting every three years. Scrub will be prevented from encroaching further onto the grassland.
The majority of the grassland areas is cut annually, towards the end of the summer, when plants have set their seeds. These practices are put in place to favour the amazing diversity of wildlife which inhabits the cemetery.
The nationally scarce plant ivy broomrape grows here and Arnos Vale Cemetery also has many nationally rare insects. During the 1970's and 1980's, mis-management and serious neglect of the site by the previous owner created problems requiring close management.
A beautiful place to have a relaxed wander, an interesting landscape with plenty of wildlife in the city centre. The atmosphere is amazing!
Animals, Insects & Birds
Diverse wildlife amidst glorious ancient woodland.
Birdsong fills the air in Spring as returning warblers prepare to nest alongside resident woodpeckers, thrushes and finches.
Rare visitors like firecrest and woodcock find shelter in the Winter and unusual migrants such as pied flycatchers and redstarts stop off to refuel on their long journeys in Spring and Autumn.
Slow-worms like the long grass, lichens decorate the tombstones and, at night, bats feed over the trees whilst badgers and foxes forage below.
Photo courtesy Dave Napier
Plants, Trees & Flowers
As well as many fine native trees, several magnificent exotic trees and shrubs survive from the original Victorian planting.
Primroses carpet the paths in late winter while other wild flowers, many persisting from the meadows that pre-date the cemetery.
Burnet saxifrage, field scabious and ladies bedstraw grow amongst the old tombstones in Summer, providing food for all sorts of butterflies such as marbled white and ringlet.
