For some time now the calls of Green Parakeets have been heard in the cemetery but no major sightings reported. This morning I can report that a flock of over a dozen of these colourful and noisy birds flew through the cemetery. They paid a visit to the trees surrounding the nearby Brandwood Pool and then returned to the area of the main drive before heading off towards the canal!
Whilst they make a colourful sight it is to be hoped that they don’t intimidate the other birds that regularly use Brandwood End, especially the Spotted and Green Woodpeckers!
Author: Jane Edwards
More mature trees lost in Brandwood End
We are sure regular visitors to the Cemetery will have heard and seen the tree work that has been going on. A number of mature trees have had to be removed as they were either damaged or diseased and represented a risk to the public.
It is so sad to see such majestic trees felled but many of them are at least as old as the Cemetery- so 120 years and some were part of the original hedgerows in the farmers fields. Nothing lasts for ever and fungi are often a sign of a trees demise.
The Friends are keen to help with the maintenance of tree stock numbers and species in Brandwood End but any introduction of trees into the cemetery needs to be carefully planned with Bereavement Services and the local Tree Officer to maintain its original design.
New Bench on Main Drive
A new bench has made an appearance in Brandwood End Cemetery. The Friends have no idea who provided it, but it sits near the Cross of Sacrifice on the main Drive and its design suggests a link to the Great war. 
Season for Fungi
This is the time of year where the damp weather means its fungi season in the Cemetery. You can always find lots of ground fungi but Carola
, a member of our committee, spotted and photographed this specimen of tree fungi!
Next time you are in Brandwood End try looking up……you would be amazed what you can find.
As well as varied birds sitting quietly in the trees you can also see the remnants of their nests and several squirrel dray’s. Views across the cemetery are very different when the trees are devoid of leaves but our many evergreen trees mean that there is always a splash of colour.
Those of us that are lucky enough to live close to the cemetery can recommend a walk there in any season and any weather as nature always provides something to see.
Cemetery looking good over Christmas period.
The Friends were pleased to see that the Cemetery was looking very clean, tidy and welcoming over the Christmas period. A number of local people have also commented on this and we have received similar praise on our Facebook page. Thank you Bereavement Services staff for that little bit of extra effort….it was noticed!!
The snowdrops have made their appearance again!!
Seasons Greetings to all our supporters.
Christmas is almost upon us and the committee of Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery would like to wish all our supporters ‘Seasons Greetings’. Although we seem to have made no progress with the Chapels in 2014, due to the financial constraints being experienced by Birmingham City Council, we have never the less been busy on other projects in the cemetery. Can we thank Bereavement Services staff for their co operation, our project sponsors and all of the volunteers who have worked alongside us. Thank you all again and we look forward, hopefully, to more progress in 2015.
Choking Ivy removed from historic graves.
Our thanks to the committee members and volunteers who turned out to help remove the Ivy from some 0f the historic graves near the Chapels last weekend. We are only able to do this at certain prescribed times each year as the Ivy provides nesting areas for some of our beautiful birds from the spring onwards. A special thank you to the volunteers from Alvechurch who gave up their time to help committee members.
Transformed……from the overgrown view on the left to the cleared area on the right!!
The sad news is that this needs to be done often and it only seems like yesterday that it was cleared before! Our thanks again for everyone’s efforts.
Hectic start to last litter pick of 2014!
Great to see 6 keen volunteers at our final litter pick this year. We have to say that we have experienced much worse weather for this final clean up in Brandwood End, but 2014 weather has been unusual all year round!
Yet again the bulk of the litter appears to have been ‘flower papers’.
Can we remind anyone leaving flowers at family graves to remove the paper before doing so, and place it in one of the bins. Also if you are leaving silk flowers can you make sure they are thoroughly secured on the grave are as they often blow out on to grass areas and then are shredded by the ride on mowers, creating lots of multicoloured pieces of litter.
Last litter pick of 2014!
This will be the last weekend in 2014 that the Friends will be holding a Litter Pick and clean up in the Cemetery. The details are as follows:-
Meet by the Lodge on the main drive. 10am (Usually finished by 11.30am)
Sunday 7th December. Litter pickers and sacks provided but suitable shoes and gloves advisable.
If Litter Picking is not up your street, we always have plenty of weeding to do under the hedges in the Civilian Garden of Remembrance. You will have to bring your own tools for this task.
Access to our ‘photostream’ on Flickr
If you would like to see more photographs taken in Brandwood End Cemetery, why not try using this link.
