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We need your help on Wednesday 12^th June to record the wildlife in St Mary’s Churchyard.

Come along between 11am and 12.30pm, and after 3pm. Bring a picnic if the weather’s good. We’ll provide you with a cuppa and everything you need to survey a 1m square. Dr Judith Allinson, a local expert will be around to help with identification until around 5pm– grasses are particularly tricky. If bending or kneeling down is a problem, you can take part whilst sitting quietly and recording your observations. No one is too young or too old to take part – the youngest last year was a 3yr old with her grandma and the oldest was in her eighties.

Our burial ground is one of over 20,000 in England and Wales and is managed carefully by the Stearn family with grass of different heights to encourage a diversity of habitats and wildlife. The land has been relatively undisturbed for 175 years. It’s a haven for wildlife of all kinds as surveys in 2022 and 2023 have shown. Records from burial grounds across England and Wales are important as they help establish the distribution and size of populations and regular recording helps to detect changes over time and informs Churchyard Management Plans.