Graveyard Critters - The Graveyard Rabbit Carnival

The topic for the February 2010 edition of the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival is -

Graveyard Critters!

This theme was suggested by Diane Wright, who authors three cemetery blogs: The Kansas Rabbit, The Wright Graveyard Stew, and The Grave Yard Rabbit Travels Wright
We were invited to post our photographs of cemetery critters.

Now I have a number of photographs showing 'critters' carved or otherwise illustrating cemetery stones - from doves to lambs and deer. I even have several showing horses. But all too few of my photographs show live critters of any kind in a cemetery.

The most memorable critter I've seen in a cemetery was a hedgehog in the Bassingbourn Cemetery in Cambridgeshire, England, and, no, this wasn't Spike the Road Safety Hedgehog. This was a real live little hedgehog. Again, no photo - I was too busy staring and thinking "Hey, it's Mrs Tiggy-Winkle!"

Back at home, I'm a city girl, and a Pacific Northwest city girl at that, so I think the live critters I've seen the most in cemeteries would be seagulls or those very cheeky crows. But they seldom sit still close enough for me to try taking their photographs. Many people here like to walk their dogs in local cemeteries. This is often a controversial topic, and some cemeteries have restrictions, but it's certainly not uncommon to see dogs (on leashes).

Whenever I can I visit cemeteries in the rest of British Columbia, though, and we are always warned to watch for bears and sometimes snakes. On a summer trip to the Whonnock Cemetery in the Fraser Valley last year, we saw evidence of a bear - if you know what I mean - but, thank goodness, no bear.

Last year, at the Anglican Church's Nicola Cemetery (established in 1905, St. Michael's Anglican Church) which has lots of high grass and holes in the ground, I was so busy watching out in case of snakes that I almost stepped into a whole mess of ants just outside a grave enclosure. This time I did take a picture, but if you can see an ant in there I'll be surprised. I can't, but I swear! there were hundreds - all were busy trotting back and forth in that one area.

CLAPPERTON Monument, Nicola Cemetery, (Anglican), British Columbia, Canada. John T.W. Clapperton, died 1913 and Rose Clapperton, died 1918. 2009 photograph, M. Diane Rogers.

Nicola Cemetery. 2009 photograph, M. Diane Rogers

Many cemeteries have attractive landscape features which may include 'critters' too. Here is a photograph of the beautiful heron fountain just inside the entrance to Ocean View Burial Park in Burnaby, BC, near where I live. (Herons are my favourite birds.)

Ocean View Burial Park, Burnaby, BC. 2009 photograph of entrance and fountain, M. Diane Rogers.

And just below, is a photograph of the most recent deer I've seen in a local cemetery. This photograph was also taken by me at Ocean View Burial Park in Burnaby in 2009.

I just couldn't resist!

The Graveyard Critters edition of the Graveyard Rabbits Carnival will be posted soon by the Association of Graveyard Rabbits on the Association's blog. Be sure to read the full carnival.