St. Giles Churchyard - The Living Churchyard Project

Wood Anemone

At the beginning of 2009 I was feeling run down and lacking energy. Feeling really frustrated with life and wanting to get outdoors more, I started to search around online for things I could do outdoors and feel productive at the same time. We'd previously attended some Wiltshire Wildlife Trust talks, so I started looking at their 'What's On' calendar and stumbled upon something I found really interesting. A Living Churchyard Project.

A wonderful idea, I thought. Something that we could go along and just have a go. A project that wasn't so big as to be overwhelming and small enough to make friends and have a great time. We lived in Chippenham at the time so it was only about 10-15 minutes away by car and we decided to give it a go.

St. Giles Church, Stanton St. Quintin

We arrived and were met by a group of people headed by Ivan, who guided us around the churchyard and told us the aims of the project. The main task, we found, was the raking of the grass. Great, I thought - something that will help me build up my energy, but something I can do at my own pace.

Now, being a typical bloke, I stormed ahead with the raking. Lucy helped Sue out with planting some native wild flowers on that first task day we attended. I kept storming ahead with the raking for many months because it provided immediate gratification - you can see immediately the difference made by the raking. I didn't really talk to people much those first few months, but that was okay. They were a patient bunch!

Peacock butterfly

Now around 4 years later these people aren't just strangers, they're friends. Also, I've realised that there's so much more to this project than the raking! For instance, the next year Sue showed us the plants that herself and Lucy had planted the year before - alive and in flower!

There's a group of 5 or 6 of us that regularly attend and they're a joy to talk to. What's wonderful is that while this is a churchyard, and most of the volunteers attend the church: there's no preaching or religious instruction. We're there for nature and this gives you the option to be as close to God as you wish. In fact, I can count the times religion has been mentioned on one hand - and it was mostly about the carvings on the building. And what a building it is: It's a mixture of Norman and Victorian styles and also has what we're told is a rare pagan fertility symbol called a Sheela-na-gig.

Raking is an important part of the project, but it's just one of many. We keep records of the wildlife on the site and photograph as much of it as possible. There's even a Geocache here, for those that want to pop along to find it.

Recently we put up some more boxes for insects and birds:

Here is a swath of small and delicate violets, one of a few plants, including primroses and bluebells that have expanded their empire in the grounds over the years - and bring delight to us as we turn up year after year and learn the cycles of the churchyard.

We even have a couple of ant hills! Here they are near a lichen and moss covered headstone and partnered with lesser celandine during the spring.

I'm really glad to be a part of this project. A testament to how good this is project is, is that when we moved to an area that doubled the distance to the project, we still turn up!

Nothing is expected, yet there is so much to gain. Even if you're not near our project at Stanton St. Quintin, there are plenty of Churchyard Projects around the country - most are Caring for God's Acre projects, with many supported by local Wildlife Trusts  - so get involved. In fact, it doesn't have to be a Churchyard Project - there are thousands of volunteer projects around the UK. Just give them a go, find the one that suits you best, and have fun!

For details of the St. Giles project: click here.
Our churchyard project now has a blog, documenting our adventures as we look after habitats and wildlife within the chuurchyard, to read more click here.

BTCV Conservation Task - 2007

Now here's a project we were involved with a long time ago! The task was a weekend away in Whichford with the BTCV (now The Conversation Volunteers) and involved clearing out an old moat which had become clogged with reeds; as below:

As reeds propagate using underground rootstocks (or rhizomes), it wouldn't be enough to just grab them, yank and hope for the best. We had to get up close and pull the reed as low down as possible, otherwise next year would find the moat in the same condition as we'd found it as the rhizomes would have sent out many new shoots.

Such fun!

 Everyone really got stuck in and we were able to get a lot of reed out of the moat. We created piles of the stuff in the hope that it would provide a temporary habitat for wildlife while it rotted down and gave back to the soil.

King of the reeds

By the end of the weekend I think we all needed to go back to work for a rest! I think we all did a fantastic job and you can judge for yourself with the 'after' shot below.

Bath Skyline Conversation Task

Back in January Lucy and myself were part of a National Trust conservation task on the Bath Skyline. We have quite an affinity for the Skyline as we walk some part of it mosts weeks when out walking dogs from the Bath Cats and Dogs home.

The Bath Skyline is a 6 mile circular walk that offers wide and wonderful views of Bath and the surrounding countryside. Some of this you can see from the bus tour, but it's much more enjoyable on foot as you have time to appreciate the views and the nature around you. For more information and a PDF version of the annotated OS map, click here to visit the National Trust's page for the walk.

One of the many views

Back to the task at hand. There was a good turn out, so we broke off into two teams. One team starte with the steps. The other, our team, started with the hedge. The hedge was quite overgrown and really needed pulling back so it would throw up some new growth, let the air flow around it, and look generally much better. There was a lot of bramble growing through it and some of the branches of the hawthorn had crossed over into so many other hawthorn bushes that it was a real task to free them from the hedge. But we managed. We created a couple of  'out of the way' piles of prunings that will be free to rot down and give back to the earth. In the meantime they can be used for various creatures as home.

If only that was the lot!

After lunch Lucy and myself moved on to helping with the steps, which were being added to encourage walkers to use a particular route, rather than damaging the whole hill - which is what had unfortunately been happening. This required lots of tools as the going was tough. We used tools such as post hole digging/compacting bars, post rammers (blummin' heavy, aren't they), and pick trowels. It was great fun, especially as it included lots of sliding down the hill at the most inopportune moment. But we got the ground moved, the holes dug and compacted, before checking that the board looked right. We then rammed the posts in before cutting them at a slight angle to let rain slip away (rather than sitting on the post and speeding up the rot). With the board in place we pre-drilled holes and bashed in the nails. Then a quick backfill and treading of the replaced soil before a layer of grit was added to really set the steps off. What was great about this task is that we all got a chance to do everything.

It may not look a lot, but I think it will do the business.

Fancy helping out with the National Trust? It's real good fun AND they provide lots of biscuits and tea! Click here for more info.

Dry Stone walling or An encounter with a stoat

Today we had our first lesson in dry stone wall building. We were at Bushey Norwood volunteering with the National Trust, assisting to rebuild some of the wall that had come down.

Our very capable teacher was Kim Jordan, also a volunteer. He taught us that these walls can come down due to animals digging and undermining the wall, trees and large shrubs growing alongside the wall and eventually undermining the wall with their roots or pushing them over. But that these walls can last for centuries if built well, up to a few decades if not.

We learnt that a dry stone wall is basically two walls of facing stones that are locked together with smaller stones called hearting. Along with keeping the facing stones of the wall as close together as possible, the hearting helps to lock the wall together and provides its strength. We also learnt that the wall is wider at the bottom and narrower at the top, called its batter. Therefore with every layer the two walls become slightly closer together.

Both Lucy and myself did quite well. Lucy got lots done. Still not being very well I didn't do as much as I wanted and took rests, including some sneaky ones 'looking for the right stone' which meant prolonged periods of looking at the floor. A more productive break was photographing the stoat (Mustela erminea), an inquisitive little fellow that was rushing around checking on our progress as we rebuilt around his home.

Here's the little fellow having a look around.  

A nice moment having a good look at each other.

Lots of stone to choose from.

 

The probably cause of the collapse. This section will have a metal fence installed to keep the cattle enclosed.

 

A future project.

The result of our endeavours. Well the top course anyway!