Spring in Nunhead Cemetery

Howdy folks!

Yesterday was spent with a happy afternoon at Nunhead Cemetery, a beautiful Victorian cemetery, the sister site to Highgate. It is still in use today, but most of it is given over to the wild now, overgrown with huge trees and crumbling tombstones.

The sound of birdsong over the city noise is amazing and the dappled light through the leaves gives off an otherworldy ambiance. It is still cold, but walking around discovering new life springing back in the March sunshine, there is nothing to beat it. Squirrels chattering and chasing each other high on branches, and Robins pouring their hearts out at the tops of the trees.

 Blackbirds flit from undergrowth to the vines that wind lazily around massive trunks. Crows cawing to one another, while parakeets look and argue over the best nesting sites (seen nosing about in abandoned woodpecker holes, in a tree that looked like it had been struck by lightening).

Blue Tits and Great Tits zip between the twigs, and all the while people with dogs of a myriad of breeds roam the trails that wind about the land, seemingly oblivious to the busy world just above their heads. The snowdrops may have nearly finished their chimes, but the primroses are lifting their dainty heads to the sky and the daffodils with their cheery yellow bring a warmth to the otherwise sombre tones still on the ground...

Ah, Spring!

The bird was in her element photographing as much as she could, while the cat whiled away her time gazing at the gorgeous blue sky and pointing out anything that could be of interest that the bird may have missed.

If you get a chance to visit this wonderful place, do! It is open nearly every day of the year (with two open days - one in May, the other in September run by Friends of Nunhead Cemetery when the old chapel and crypt is open to the public) and there are also guided walks run by F.O.N.C fairly regularly.

My regards to you all,

Frank
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