The Churchyard

In this section, you will find information on our wildlife friendly churchyard. Included is our old churchyard management plan, uodates on progress, sheets explaining why certain practices are carried out and a plant species list. A hard copy of this folder can be found in the church porch.

The old churchyard here at Staple church is being managed, in conjunction with Staple Wildlife Friendly Village (SWFV), for wildlife as well as visitors.

Have a read of our management plan outlining how we hope to achieve this.

On this page you will also find details of why things are being done in a particular way, important species and a current plant list for the site.

As you walk around the churchyard you will see information slates highlighting certain areas, particular species and current wildlife events.

This is an on-going and developing project.

Churchyard Management

The old churchyard that surrounds the church is no longer used for burials, although the Garden of Remembrance is located here. Consequently, the soil has lain largely undisturbed for at least 100 years. Many of the original headstones have been moved to prop up the church, leaving areas of grassland that lend themselves to nature-friendly management.

The term nature-friendly management is often greeted with concern that the space will be allowed to revert, unchecked, to a wild and unkempt state. This will not happen, although it will probably look different to what it has done in recent years.

The aim is to strike a balance between the needs of wildlife and the wishes and perceptions of parishioners and visitors. This is after all God’s Acre and it would be remiss to trivialise one need over another.

People

A surprising number of people visit the church. Old churches are a draw for many. A quiet exploration of the church interior is often followed by a walk around the churchyard. Locals with family buried in the new churchyard visit to tend the grave and others may wish to sit and pay their respects and remember loved ones whose ashes are interred in the Garden of Remembrance. To this end, it is important that the churchyard is well maintained with easy access and is a pleasant and peaceful place to sit and reflect. To achieve this:

Grass paths giving access to all areas of the churchyard will be regularly mowed throughout the year.

Any, more formal flower beds, will be kept weed free and roses pruned etc

The scattering of more formal shrubs such as Box, Holly and Laurel will be kept topped and trimmed.

There are a number of Irish Yews in the churchyard and these will be kept free of brambles and Elder saplings that often thrive within them.

Unsightly weeds such as nettles, thistles and brambles will be cut out where appropriate. These are, of course, all excellent food plants for wildlife and there are areas around the perimeter where they will be allowed to thrive.

Information signs will appear to explain why certain practices are happening and also to point out any current wildlife events.

Wildlife

UK wildlife is suffering badly. Any space, however small, can be an important one for wildlife, providing food sources, shelter and nesting sites. The more spaces managed for wildlife the more interconnectivity between habitats there is. These are corridors allowing wildlife populations to spread. From the church we have Andy McTaggart’s wonderful derelict cherry orchard and unsprayed pastureland connecting to Tony and Sally Kilbee’s lovely footpath with its range of native tree species and tall hawthorn hedges. South of the church there are corridors to the farmland of the Goodnestone estate with its superb hedgerows, native woodland plantations, wild flower meadows and nature-friendly arable practices. Here lies hope! So, to improve our churchyard for wildlife, we will:

Try to increase the diversity of flowering plant species in the grassland areas. This will be achieved by:

Mowing less often, allowing flowering plants to flower and set seed. Mowing will be phased but all areas will be cut at least once a year.
Scattering locally sourced, native, meadow wildflower seeds.
Cutting and taking away the grass clippings to reduce soil fertility which reduces smothering grass growth allowing smaller flowering plants to compete successfully for resources.
Sowing locally sourced Yellow Rattle seed which is a semi-parasite on grass roots. Yellow Rattle is often called ‘meadow-maker’ as it again reduces the vigour of grass allowing other more delicate species to compete and thrive.
Cutting back dominating trees and bramble where appropriate, allowing more light and space for other species.

2. Try to increase the diversity of insects and other invertebrate species. This will be achieved by:

Increasing plant diversity as outlined above. This will provide nectar-rich flowers for pollinators, including bee species, to feed on. It will also provide the food plants for the larval stages of butterflies and other insects.
Having longer grass areas which will provide food and space for the grass eating caterpillars of Meadow Brown and Large Skipper butterflies. This type of habitat also encourages grasshoppers and crickets.
Building a number of ‘dead-hedges’. These are staked enclosures holding fallen and cut branches. These provide great shelter for wintering insects like ladybirds. As the branches decompose then woodlice, centipedes, millipedes and associated predators such as spiders and beetles, move in. Great for fungi and lichens too. This also saves on harmful burning, slowing down the release of carbon.
Leaving dead-wood piles should any larger trees be felled.
Providing open-sided compost and leaf bins. The populations of decomposer organisms in well-aerated compost is staggering.
Leaving Ivy in suitable places. The flowers provide nectar for late summer insects like Ivy bees, hoverflies, Red Admiral and Peacock butterflies.
Planting non-native but nectar-rich plants in the one or two more formal beds. These will also provide interest and colour. Suitable plants might include lavender, dwarf comfrey, foxgloves, cornflowers and Michaelmas daisies.
Testing out one or two suitable looking positions as bee banks-a warm sunny slope with minimal vegetation to encourage mining bee species.

3. Try to increase the number of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. This will be achieved by:

Increasing invertebrate populations as outlined above. These are, of course, a major food source.
Putting up a few nest boxes for birds.
Building log-piles with a built in cavity to provide hibernation sites for hedgehogs.
Leaving at least one area of long grass for voles. A healthy population of these will in turn feed the local owls and raptors or even the odd fox, weasel and stoat.
Leaving old tombs and stones undisturbed (goes without saying really!). These provide superb shelter for slow-worms, lizards, frogs and toads.
Providing a shallow water source (to be discussed).
Leaving the cutting back of Ivy until late February so the berries can provide a late source of food for thrushes and woodpigeons.
When the opportunity arises and with the relevant permissions, plant native trees and shrubs that can provide seeds and berries as a winter food source.

Monitoring

Members of the Staple Wildlife Friendly Village Group will regularly monitor changes. At least one of these sessions in perhaps May or June will be open to all and advertised in advance.

Why do we want...?

1. Ivy

A still, sunny day in September and early October and a wall of flowering Ivy (Hedera helix) is indeed a sight and sound to behold. A rich source of late nectar attracting a humming, last-ditch feeding frenzy for many invertebrates before the long, lean winter months.

Here you will find a colourful array of our best loved butterflies, Red Admiral, Comma, Peacock and Painted Lady as well as Honey and Ivy bees, Wasps, Hoverflies and others all taking on life-extending fuel.

A massively important but largely underrated and often much maligned species, Ivy offers a lot in the way of food and shelter for our wildlife. After the flowers come the berries, dark green to black and rather uninviting. They don’t ripen until early spring and it is at this time that reserves of other hedgerow berries have been pretty much exhausted.

Red Admiral butterfly on Ivy flowers

Hawthorn berries, sloes and rose hips will have been foraged by winter thrushes and food sources in the countryside are now dangerously depleted. Ivy berries offer high energy treats at this crucial time with blackbirds, redwings, starlings and many others taking advantage of these timely provisions.

Wren’s nest in Ivy

The benefits of Ivy don’t stop here. The evergreen foliage makes an excellent early nesting site and shelter from inclement weather for birds such as wrens, robins and blackbirds. Its welcome microclimate attracts many other species from woodlice to wood mice and spiders to hibernating small tortoiseshell butterflies, finding shelter from wind and rain.

Ivy bee on Ivy flowers

However, Ivy does have a propensity to engulf trees and abandoned buildings and this has made it a target for enthusiastic removal. The Royal Horticultural Society(RHS) website, far from demonising Ivy, offers sensible advice on its huge benefits and control when needed. Ivy is not a parasite like mistletoe and does not penetrate a tree's bark or roots. It simply uses trees and buildings for support to climb and reach light for photosynthesis. Ivy on the trunks of healthy mature trees is not a problem and on buildings will only become a nuisance when growing into existing defects. Potential problems and excessive growth can be minimised with pruning rather than complete removal. In late spring the spent flowering stalks that have now exhausted their benefits can be pruned away allowing fresh new growth to take over.

Ivy of course, is a staple of churchyards where tall walls, headstones and yew trees provide endless opportunities for its rampant spread. Without some measure of control, our churches would be swamped, headstones unreadable, beautiful stained glass windows covered over and doorways inaccessible.

However, the Church of England's own website makes clear its support for churchyards as wildlife havens. It positively encourages good management and the taking of advice from local wildlife groups to maximise the wildlife potential of its churchyards in this time of a growing biodiversity crisis. Let’s face it, if we can’t allow God's creatures to flourish in God’s acre, where do they have a chance and what sort of Christians are we? Ivy-covered walls, hedgerows, field boundaries and roadside verges are massively important wildlife refuges and corridors. All seem to be targets for the mower, plough and flail. It’s time for our propensity for over-tidiness to take a back seat.

2. Log Piles

What grows in the churchyard stays in the churchyard! Recently, a couple of trees were felled due to their proximity to the church building. Much of the logged wood was used to create log piles for wildlife.

Wood, as with all organic waste, is gradually broken down by decomposer organisms.

Many types of fungi will begin this process. Invertebrates soon move in. These will include woodlice, beetles, wood wasps and wood-boring insects.

As a healthy population develops, predators begin taking advantage of the bounty. Spiders, centipedes and beetles feed on the smaller offerings.

Having a wood pile, however big or small, is a brilliant addition to any garden. It will help to build a thriving natural community and help your garden to become a flourishing habitat for wildlife.

Toads love the cool damp conditions at the bottom of the wood pile and may well hibernate here. They find safe shelter and, of course, a mass of tasty grubs!

The bottom of the wood pile has access to a larger cavity which may well be used by hibernating and breeding hedgehogs.

Tiny wrens will flitter through the wood pile feeding as they go. Robins may well find a nest space here and blackbirds and thrushes will scratch around the base for worms slugs and other morsels.

We have slow worms in the churchyard. These are harmless reptiles feeding mostly on invertebrates, so the woodpile is a good hunting ground.

3. Long Grass

In a relatively small area like the churchyard, it’s important to have a mosaic of different grass lengths. Short grass will still allow flowering plants to thrive, albeit ones that are adapted to being cut or grazed regularly like plantains, dandelions, daisies and clovers.

Several plant species that grow in shorter grass areas would be out-competed in longer grass. Well managed, short swards can still be a magnet for pollinators and are great for feeding birds like thrushes, blackbirds and robins.

It is important though, that some areas of grass are left to grow throughout the main summer season. If the grass isn’t too vigorous, many of the taller flowering plant species will thrive. Plants like Knapweed, Ragwort and Ox-eye Daisies are eye-catching and immensely important as mid-summer nectar sources for the main event-insects! Butterflies, moths, hoverflies, pollen beetles, bees and many others are fully dependent on this bounty.

Long grass also creates a microclimate. The base is sheltered from strong winds, retains heat on cooler evenings, is cooler in the midday sun and retains moisture for much longer than regularly mown grass.

Field voles love long grass. They are protected from the beady eyes of predators and can go about their business in relative safety. They create runs through the grass stems and their nest holes remain well hidden. This applies to other small mammals as well. Toads love the damp conditions and rest here in the heat of the day.

Creatures like snails and slugs are at home here as well as a myriad of small invertebrates that are an essential base of many food chains. Slow worms will find all they need here to survive. Rotting leaves provide food for earthworms which in turn feed the mole population. A casual glance at a long grass area will reveal little but there is a lot going on in its hidden depths!

A number of butterfly species depend on grass as the food plant for their caterpillars. Large and Small Skippers, Meadow Browns, Speckled Woods, Small Heaths and Wall Browns to name a few.

Grass can dominate a meadow though. This will cause flowering plants to be out-competed. To prevent this, the soil fertility needs to be reduced. This is achieved by removing all plant material after cutting and ensuring that the meadow is cut at the end of every season.

Plant species such as Yellow Rattle and Red Bartsia are hemi-parasites. They parasitize the grass species, reducing their vigour and this in turn allows other plant species to get a hold.

4. Garlic Mustard

If ever there was a competition for a May wild plant of the month, Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) would be up there as a serious contender. Adding a splash of white to the palette of hedgerow hues, it stands with the purple of Honesty and yellows of Buttercup. It’s a fabulous time of year as a fresh flush of wild plants adorn the hedges and field margins alongside the footpaths around Staple.

There is a rich diversity of wild plants here providing succulent leaves and nectar rich flowers to feed the emerging throng of invertebrate life. Insects and others that are often labelled pests, whose importance to the web of life that supports us, is often ignored or misunderstood.

In the past, we were probably more connected to nature than we are today. Many field and hedgerow plants provided welcome fresh and free food for us and the presence of them was a welcome sight as the memories of a cold, dark winter receded.

Consequently, many important wild plants had multiple local names. Garlic Mustard is commonly known as Jack-by-the-hedge. Crush the leaves between your fingers and a soft garlic aroma will assail the nostrils. Jack, being the devil and allegedly having garlic breath, is a probable derivation for the name.

Garlic Mustard is a biennial plant. Its seeds germinate in September and it stays as a rosette of leaves until late April the next year when the flowering spike suddenly bursts forth. The leaves are edible and a rich source of vitamins A and C and can be chopped up in salads. It was also, at one time, a respected medicine cabinet herbal treatment.

However, the importance of this humble plant to a healthy ecosystem cannot be underestimated. As with all flowering plants, its flowers provide nectar for pollinating insects. It is also the food source for one of our much loved butterflies, the Orange-Tip (Anthocharis cardamines).

It's only the male of the species that sports the conspicuous orange tips to its wings and is one of the first butterflies to emerge in Spring. Always a welcome sight. The female is more like a Small White butterfly although its underwing, along with that of the male, has a mottled green pattern. Eggs are laid on the underside of leaves and soon take on an orange colour. These can be easily spotted with careful observation. The caterpillars emerge in June and fatten up on the leaves and developing seed pods. Once mature, the caterpillars pupate on nearby shrubs and overwinter like this until hatching in the warmth of a new Spring.

The Orange-Tip butterfly is dependent on Garlic Mustard for its survival. The challenges for both species are very apparent around Staple. Glyphosate treatment of field margins wipes out many of the wild plants that enjoy the damp and partial shade conditions provided by hedgerows. The complete removal of so many hedgerows to increase field size is still ongoing locally and the over-zealous strimming of our public spaces continues in the name of tidiness. The mechanical flailing of hedges and the perceived need to continually mow roadside verges, smashes the plants, the eggs, caterpillars and pupae of the butterfly and gradually this iconic spring joy will become a rarer sight.

To see these and other species at their best locally, walk towards Crixhall Court and then over the hill to the Goodnestone Estate where excellent hedgerow and wide field margin management is in evidence. Leaving that little bit of extra space for wildlife, coupled with thoughtful and timely cutting, reaps big benefits for nature as well as immeasurably increasing our enjoyment of the countryside.

5. Nettles

Not a popular native wildflower but Stinging Nettles are very useful plants for wildlife.

They often harbour populations of aphids, which are great food for Ladybirds and small birds such as Blue Tits.

Our declining butterfly numbers are a worry. Nettles are the food plant of the caterpillars of Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma and Red Admiral butterflies.

Over 40 species of invertebrate live and feed on nettles which are protected from grazing animals by their stinging hairs.

In the churchyard, a corner is given over to a good sized nettle patch. Nettles are a very valuable addition to any wildlife area and play an important part in increasing biodiversity.

Walls & Headstones

Obviously, walls and headstones are a major feature of ancient churches and churchyards like Staple’s.

They are a magnet for wildlife. Ivy will scramble all over them in the space of a year of neglectful management. No bad thing of course. Late summer nectar for pollinators, late winter berries for thrushes and pigeons, dense, dry cover for all manner of invertebrates and hibernating butterflies and when really overgrown, superb, potential nesting sites.

However, Ivy is not good for old, crumbling mortar! For this reason, we do not allow Ivy to get a hold on the church walls.