Many of our churches made the most of Churches Count on Nature* (CCoN) week or Great Big Green Week, both in mid-June, to engage their local community in caring for creation. Read on for reports from five of them.
Fair for all the world in Eaton
“Eaton Churches’ Summer Fair Fair took place during Churches Count on Nature Week so there was a Family Eco-Trail around the churchyard as well as an opportunity for children and their parents to plant sunflower seeds to take home to water and watch grow. There were awards for the families who spotted the most plants, flowers, insects and molehills in the churchyard.
“Both Eaton churches have already achieved A Rocha’s Eco-Church Silver Award – the scheme allows churches to connect environmental issues with their Christian faith and mission, and respond with practical action in the church, people’s lives, and the local and global community.
“This was a great opportunity for local families to encounter the rich and abundant wildlife to be found in churchyards, encouraging them to care for God’s creation as part of the Church’s mission to bring blessing and renewal to the whole world.” Vivien Humber
Mini beast hunt and snakes & ladder fun at Reepham
“CCoN Week began with a fledging of baby Robins in Reepham churchyard as we were setting up for our wildlife themed ‘Afternoon for All’. This year we decided to have a range of activities which would be suitable for all ages, but especially to encourage families to come and enjoy our beautiful and varied churchyard.
“We encouraged everyone to see what wildlife they could find in the gardens and conservation areas, and record what they had seen on the sightings board. Children were given a mini-beast spotting sheet to help them identify what they had found, and other identification cards were available.
“There were also games borrowed from the diocesan resources centre. The Net Zero snakes and ladders was great fun and in use all afternoon. A wail of “Oh no, I have forgotten to switch off the lights again!” was heard, as one child went down the same snake for a second time, so it is a really good teaching tool too.
“As it was very windy, we had the crafts in St Michael’s, where children made egg box caterpillars, ladybirds and fox finger puppets. They also made pictures using natural materials. While all this was going on, several intrepid adults, unencumbered by children, spent the afternoon recording a good variety of insects, birds, plants and other fauna, with a total of 103 plants species, six species of birds and 32 invertebrates recorded. There was tea, squash and cake for all in the gazebo to round off a very enjoyable day. Rachel Richmond
Counting on Nature in and around Holt
There were bewildered looks from passers by as they navigated round our group of 13. We were staring intently at a few straggly plants on a wall, and then in pavement cracks. It was Monday, the first day of the “Count on Nature” walks organised by the St Andrew’s Eco Group. We were amazed to find over 70 plants on the walls and pavements near the church, some with interesting names like ‘pearlwort’ and ’pellitory-of-the-wall’.
On Tuesday, the walk along the old railway line revealed some different and interesting species. There were several ferns and twayblade orchids in the shady areas, while dog rose and elder were in full flower in the sunshine.
Thursday’s trip was to survey the plants growing in Edgefield Churchyard. Large areas behind the church had been left uncut this year and were full of knapweed, buttercup and ox-eye daisy to name but a few. One kept overhearing comments like ”well, it doesn’t taste peppery“ (trying to distinguish between stonecrops) or “use the magnifier to see if there are any holes in the leaves” (trying to identify one of the St John’s-worts.)
On Friday we visited Hunworth Common. It has always had ancient oaks and hornbeam, but in the last 50 years many other trees have arrived. A pleasant walk along narrow pathways as we admired the work of bracken clearing and tree planting carried out by volunteers.
Tony Leech had hosted some wildflower workshops the week previously, enabling us to understand flower families, and to examine plants more closely using a hand lens. The walks enabled us to put our new skills to the test. Kate, new to the walks commented, ”I was fortunate enough to be able to attend most of the walks . As the landscape of each walk was so different, it was fascinating to find so many
varied plants all in their natural habitat. Many I had seen before but had no idea what they were
called, so to have them identified on the spot was really good as well.” Fiona Jolliffe
Wildlife in a country churchyard at Hemblington
“The Eco Team at All Saints, Hemblington invited well-known local naturalist, David Bryant, to offer a talk to which everyone locally was invited. As David and others have undertaken one hour monthly surveys in the churchyards for the past nine years, he decided to base his illustrated talk, entitled “Wildlife in a Country Churchyard”, on the flora and fauna recorded there. Gratifyingly 27 people attended the talk, despite a very pessimistic weather forecast. In the event the weather was reasonable and David’s talk and photographs of birds, mammals, butterflies, dragonflies, bees and some wildflowers, together with various anecdotes of his life as a naturalist and photographer, entertained his audience for over an hour.
Jan Davis of the Green Party joined us for the talk and was very helpful afterwards with regard to local green initiatives. He commented “I really enjoyed the talk and visit. It’s such a lovely church and churchyard. Thank you for the invitation and I will certainly visit again!”
Another attendee said “My wife could not come along with me today, but I know she would like to see the pictures in your exhibition. I’ll bring her along next week.”
The audience was invited to look at the exhibition of photographs, leaflets and results of annual surveys. They were also invited to consider joining the team at future monthly surveys – and enjoy the refreshments provided by the Friends group.
Sunday morning’s service (on 8 June) celebrated World Environment Day with Revd Sue Shillam selecting readings, music, hymns and reflection to highlight the beauty of God’s creation and what we must all endeavour to achieve for a safer, greener future. You can download the service sheet HERE. And read the full story of all things eco at All Saints HERE Susan Rowe
A first for St Peter Mancroft Church, Norwich
“This was our first survey of our church yard. We are situated in the heart of the city next to the marketplace. It was a very busy and noisy day, with musical performances on Hay Hill and Millenium Plain and lots of people passing by.
“Our small church yard is managed by the city council so there are restrictions on what we can do. We have created a small wildflower patch. We are introducing insect friendly plants into the flower beds, with much of the churchyard given over to grave slabs and closely mown grass. We know that there are rats in the city centre feeding off discarded food which means that we can’t have birdfeeders.
“A small group gathered on an overcast and damp day with little to no wind. The rain just about held off whilst we were out. We were thrilled by the number of species we found. We found evidence of a hedgehog using the churchyard in the form of hedgehog poo. We recorded four bird species: a European herring gull, blue tits, goldfinches, and a woodpigeon. We found a number of different bumblebees, buff tailed, two with red tails, a black tailed bee, and a honeybee. Other finds included black ants, a tiger crane fly, hoverflies, bluebottles, beetles, woodlice, and snails.
“The church walls supported crustose lichen (possibly zoned dust lichen) and moss of the family Pottiacea. Wildflowers were abundant, and not just in the wildflower patch: daisies, broadleaf plantain, hawkbit, selfheal, meadow buttercups, oxeye daisies, knapweed, goosegrass, yarrow, red campion, scabious, spear thistles, ribwort plantain, field poppies, sweet cicely, golden ragwort, willow herb, foxgloves, groundsel, nipplewort, cranesbill, false sow thistle, buckshorn plantain, yellow trefoil, field bindweed, teasels, common velvet grass, Yorkshire fog, perennial ryegrass, common ryegrass, wall barley.
“Given our location we are delighted that our churchyard supports so many different species, and we are looking forward to doing more to support wildlife in the city centre.” Revd Fiona Haworth
*This initiative is jointly run by the conservation charities Caring for God’s Acre and A Rocha UK, together with the Church of England and the Church in Wales.
For help with eco church and biodiversity advice, contact Barbara Bryant: barbara.bryant@dioceseofnorwich.org
For help with net zero advice, contact Ed Cotterill: ed.cotterill@dioceseofnorwich.org