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Category: Beautiful Burial Ground

Butterfly Monitoring

18th August 2021

Burial grounds, rich in butterflies and moths, are also rich in other invertebrates, so managing sensitively for butterflies will help a whole range of other invertebrates too. We have a resource sheet on Butterflies, Moths and other Insects here which has a really useful table on what food plants and habitat types the different butterflies […]

God’s Acre

16th December 2020

I am in my local Parish Churchyard, St. Marys, Bromfield. The weather is mild, breezy and threatening rain but the flowering Ivy on the Scots Pine on the left of the gate is humming with insects, mainly Honeybees, assorted flies and a few wasps. The sweet scent of the Ivy flowers wafts in the humid […]

Bioblitz at St John’s Churchyard

22nd July 2020

Over the years we have been encouraging groups to undertake a bioblitz in their burial ground. A bioblitz is a period of biological surveying (often over 24hours) which attempts to record as many species as possible within a set area. It is usually organised by a local conservation group or the community who bring in […]

Hazel dormice hold on in biodiverse churchyards

23rd June 2020

Guest blog post written by Sam Devine-Turner, Mammal Detective and Chair of Shropshire Dormouse Group With a decline of 50% since the year 2000, the hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius is disappearing from the British countryside at an alarming rate. Not only are their numbers dwindling, but they have become extinct in 17 counties since 1885 […]

sleeping dormouse

Churchyard boundaries

17th February 2020

Guest blog post written by Judith Leigh, CfGA Trustee and member of Diocesan Advisory Committees. The boundary of a churchyard is very significant as it separates off a consecrated space, which is also commonly (though not always) used for burials and is also a place where people historically might claim sanctuary.  Most often this boundary […]

National Biodiversity Network Awards for Wildlife Recording

15th July 2019

One of our key partners in the Beautiful Burial Ground Project – The National Biodiversity Network (NBN) are running awards for Wildlife Recording. The awards were developed in 2015 by the National Biodiversity Network Trust, the National Forum for Biological Recording and the Biological Records Centre to celebrate the achievements of individuals and groups in the wildlife recording sector. […]

Natural History in Churchyards – a guest blog by Steve Woodward

10th September 2018

NATURAL HISTORY IN CHURCHYARDS Steve Woodward Churchyards are well worth exploring for their flora and fauna. Helen Ikin and myself have confirmed this on our many visits to local churchyards over the last few years. They are (usually) pleasant places to wander slowly, looking for wild flowers among the headstones, trying to identify the planted […]

Beautiful Burial Ground Project

22nd May 2018

We are delighted to announce that the National Lottery has awarded Caring for God’s Acre a £586,700 grant for the Beautiful Burial Ground Project. This project will put burial grounds on the map, by revealing the hidden heritage and wildlife of burial grounds across England and Wales. Citizen scientists will be at the heart of […]