Our Living Churchyard

Bere Regis churchyard is managed for the benefit of wildlife.

Homes for Plants and Animals

The Churchyard provides an oasis of different habitats for plants and animals within our village:  Stone; open, grassy areas; shady places; trees; decaying wood; dry walls and lots of hiding places for insects.

Just stone… or is it?

All the stone of the church building and the gravestones looks just like….. stone.  But look closely – it is covered with living lichens – lots of different types.  Some look so like the grey stone itself, you can be excused for missing them!  Why not take a look yourself.  There is a magnifying glass attached to the gravestone, immediately outside the porch.  Can you recognise these lichens?  Photo – the gravestone close-up.

The Birds and the Bees

In the churchyard we have:

 Piles of decaying wood for insects
 Nesting boxes for birds, such as blue-tits
 A bee hotel for solitary bees such as bumble bees and mason bees
 A ground beetle home
 A hedgehog house
 A reptile tin

Just grass… or is it?

The grass is mown so that there are short, medium and long areas - to suit different plants and animals. The mown path through the medium area looks great and emphasises the contrast.  The ox-eye daisies look amazing this year!

A Wildflower Border was sown with a wildflower seed mix and looks stunning with poppies, corn marigolds and some rarer plants such as, weasel's snout and vervain.  It was a great success and a colourful feature of our churchyard.

We have information panels in the porch and a Churchyard Trail leaflet and map.

We have entered our Churchyard again this year and it was judged on 16th June.  Last year, we were awarded a Silver Award, which was  presented in October.

 

This Summer's  Sightings:

 

Slow Worms

Many young frogs in long grass area

Ringlet, marbled white and Comma butterflies

A badger ambling along path, early in the morning

A young female kestrel perched on a gravestone

People!