Today is the 3rd day of #30DaysWild! Annual challenge from the UK Wildlife Trusts.

I spent some time sitting and wandering around an old churchyard near Shadwell Overground/DLR station. I was a quiet place with quite a lot of wildlife, but was also a cut through for people on their way to work. I saw a few new species, one (an ichneumon wasp), seemed to be everywhere I went.

A little history of St George's-in-the-East Churchyard (also known as St George's Gardens).
In 1876 part of the churchyard was combined with burial grounds of the nearby Wesleyan Chapel to create St George's Gardens, which opened as a public garden in 1877. Headstones were generally moved to the perimeter and the new layout included a Rectors Walk and Lime Avenue. The garden was restored and re-opened in 2008.

The Metropolitan Borough of Stepney Nature Study Museum
The original mortuary building in the grounds fell out of use and by 1904 , was converted to a Nature Study Museum, a branch of the Whitechapel Museum. Containing stuffed animals and archaeological specimens the museum was a huge success, attracting up to 1,000 visitors per day in the Summer months according to the church’s website.

It closed during the Second World War, and although to have been a temporary closure, it has never reopened. Now in disrepair, a restoration project has been proposed.
http://www.stgitehistory.org.uk/naturesstudy.html
http://www.stgitehistory.org.uk/media/kulpamortuary.pdf

At lunchtime I spent a few minutes at a patch of grass and trees around the East End of Millwall Dock.

New species I saw today;

• Common Poppy (Papaver rhoeas)
• Amblyteles armatorius
• Miner's Lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) AKA Springbeauty
• Bird's-eye Speedwell (Veronica persica) AKA Common Field-speedwell
• Fool's Watercress (Apium nodiflorum)
• Trailing Bellflower (Campanula poscharskyana)

(a full list of everything I saw can be found here; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-06-03&place_id=any&user_id=happybird44&verifiable=any)

Posted on June 3, 2024 10:44 PM by