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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 […]

A joint project with the University of the Third Age (U3A)

12th July 2021

All Saints Church in Wokingham, Berkshire, has a major initiative underway to develop into an accessible and flexible community meeting space while retaining its role as a place of worship. A key aspect of this project is creating a centre for discovering and appreciating the heritage of the church and the town. The history of the […]

Georgians in Stone

28th April 2021

In 2019 the P.C.C of St John the Baptist in Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire was awarded a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to discover and share the secrets of Georgian history in Bishop’s Castle, a notorious Rotten Borough with an unusual number of beautiful monuments from the period within the churchyard. This project included […]

14th century lockdown – the life of an Anchoress

8th March 2021

The modern idea of anchorites in the medieval period is that they were recluses who were bricked up into a cell, never to see light of day or have any conversation with humans again. The truth is surprisingly different, in that certainly by the fourteenth century, anchorites – or anchoresses as I will refer to […]

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 […]

The Story of a hand hay baler

6th August 2020

Exactly a year ago we were contacted at the Caring for God’s Acre office by a gentleman who was impressed by the YouTube video of our hand hay baler, but couldn’t find the plans on our website. We got back to him to say that we were concerned that the plans that we had on […]

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 […]

Guidelines for installing Swift nest boxes in church belfries

17th April 2020

This month we have a guest blog from our friends at Action for Swifts. They have produced an excellent PDF which can be downloaded here, complete with illustrations and photographs for anyone who is interested in installing nest boxes in their local church belfry. The content is reproduced below. Nest boxes in church belfries have […]

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 […]

Pushing up the Daisies 2020 – Leicestershire – two upcoming lectures on churchyard wildlife

29th January 2020

Every parish has an acre of land where both people and wildlife can find sanctuary. Steve Woodward has visited all Leics & Rutland churchyards, to find out which plants and animals live in them. Steve’s presentation covers a wide range of creatures, from Spiders to Celandines, from Mosses to Mining Bees, and from Peregrines to […]

Dancing with Bees at the Caring for God’s Acre AGM!

4th September 2019

AGM Tuesday 12th of November 1.30pm the Bishop’s Palace, Hereford Dancing with Bees This year we are delighted to welcome Brigit Strawbridge Howard to our AGM where she will give an illustrated talk on the wonderful world of bees. Brigit is a naturalist, wildlife gardener, bee advocate and has just released her book ‘Dancing with […]