Creating Flower Rich Grassland
As the winter draws to an end, churchyards are starting to show signs of spring and a few bees have already ventured out looking for early flowering plants. Whatever you do in the next few weeks, please make sure that you have a map of your mowing plan in place in order to create spring and summer flower areas. Have a look at the newly updated Scoring leaflet for the Churchyard Conservation Award, which explains when to mow and where. Next month (March) please try to mow the summer flower area and collect the grass.
And don’t forget to explain what you are doing. You could use this poster, available from Caring for God’s Acre, which is free to download from Caring for God’s Acre.
Churches Count For Nature and Love Your Burial Ground Week: Saturday 7 – Sunday 15 June 2025
For over 15 years, Caring for God’s Acre have been encouraging all who help in churchyards and cemeteries to celebrate these fabulous places each June. Last year churches across the country organised a variety of events such as nature and history talks and tours, picnics, bioblitzes and photography competitions. Could you take part this year? Perhaps you can find local people who could share their knowledge and expertise in, for example, identifying wildflowers, lichen, butterflies, insects or trees. Perhaps they would lead a tour or design an activity sheet for children, based on nature in your churchyard or burial ground.
Last year, St Peter’s in Offord D’Arcy (in Cambridgeshire) organised an excellent Saturday event to include lots of illustrated information about the management of the churchyard and its wildlife and activity sheets for children. In addition there were pots of wildflowers and local honey for sale and tea and homemade cake in the church. A volunteer from Cambridgeshire Mammals was in attendance too, to talk about the small mammals in the churchyard, including the yellow necked mice they had found. The event was a great success and lots of people in the village discovered the church for the first time. For more ideas see Things to do in Burial Grounds on the Caring For God's Acre website.
iNaturalist is an easy way to record what you see in the churchyard so if you want to carry on or start recording wildlife, visit this page to find out how to get going.
Diana Cook: Volunteer Co-ordinator, Cambridgeshire Churchyard Conservation Award