{"id":1843,"date":"2019-04-09T16:43:58","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T15:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hemblingtonchurch.org.uk\/?page_id=1843"},"modified":"2026-05-06T19:31:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:31:20","slug":"churchyard-conservation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.hemblingtonchurch.org.uk\/?page_id=1843","title":{"rendered":"Conservation Management of the Churchyards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conservation Managemen<\/strong>t<\/p>\n

Blofield and District Conservation Group BADCOG has cut and raked the southern churchyard since 1985, so celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2025! The undisturbed area is the most botanically diverse, with Pignut, Crosswort, Meadow foxtail, Dog violet, Dog\u2019s mercury, Meadow vetchling, Woodruff, Greater stitchwort, Red fescue, Selfheal, Greater Birdsfoot trefoil, Lesser stitchwort, Woodruff and Grey sedge.<\/p>\n

The regular summer cutting, and raking off to a spoil heap to the north-east of the church, ensures the wildflowers prosper – with all the added benefits for birds, bees, butterflies, dragonflies – and visitors.<\/p>\n

Bure Valley Conservation Group has cut and raked the northern churchyard for the past 8 years. This was farmland until the 1950s, so does not enjoy the diversity of wildflowers – yet! Again the area is cut and raked in mid-summer, adding to the growing spoil heap in the north-east corner.<\/p>\n

Two insect houses were set up by local schoolchildren in this area. As barn owls are seen in the vicinity, the Hawk and Owl Trust was approached to provide and install a barn owl box in a copse opposite the church. To date a little owl has been observed sitting on it, but as yet no barn owls have taken residence. Some exploratory work was undertaken with a view to installing swift boxes within the louvres of the bell tower. This sadly is proving very difficult to arrange as there is no flooring high up in the tower, so siting boxes is problematic.<\/p>\n

Both areas are well signed and kept smart and accessible with carefully mown paths and borders. The path from the gate to both the north and south doorways was re-laid in 2021 to make it wheelchair and buggy friendly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Community initiatives<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is mixed native hedging along the western boundary, and a planted laurel hedge to the south. Occasional community work parties (usually about 10 people) are arranged outside the nesting season to trim the top of the hedges, cut down brambles and occasionally help plant new trees, e.g. the Queen\u2019s Platinum Jubilee cherry and lime trees planted in February 2023 and March 2024. A professional company monitors the condition of the Italian poplar trees on the southern and eastern boundaries. Another company regularly mows a pathway around the church and between the newer graves to the north. This allows easy and pleasant access to recent grave sites whilst allowing the older or as yet unused areas to be conserved. The southern churchyard is also managed as a prayer walk, with curving paths mown through, encouraging people to explore and contemplate.<\/p>\n

Monthly one hour wildlife surveys are undertaken by four members of The Friends group, recording any wildlife seen in and around the churchyard. This useful piece of \u201ccitizen science\u201d is shared with Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Caring for God\u2019s Acre and the Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service. In 2024 the following numbers were recorded:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Type of wildlife<\/strong><\/td>\nNumber of species recorded<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Birds<\/td>\n46<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Butterflies and dragonflies<\/td>\n10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Moths<\/td>\n45<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wild flowers and grasses<\/td>\n150 species<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Trees<\/td>\n16 species<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

The church team is keen to encourage the use of sustainable resources within the church and the local community. The A-Rocha Eco-church initiatives encourage churches to work towards achieving various levels of award – currently All Saints has achieved Silver level, so more yet to do. Areas such as encouraging the use of Fair Trade and locally-produced foodstuffs and engaging with local leaders on environmental issues are targets.<\/p>\n

The church celebrates Great Big Green Week (GBGW) \/ Churches Count on Nature in June each year. Events such as illustrated presentations by local naturalists showcasing local fauna, wild flower identification sessions led by Norfolk Wildlife Trust officers and services highlighting the church\u2019s Season of Creation themes are regularly held, the latter outside when possible. The local primary school is also invited to come along to church during GBGW, and various activities such as seed planting, leaf rubbing, birdfood fatball making, \u201ccalculating the height of the church tower\u201d and ringing the church bells are always very popular. For some years the chair of BADCOG has kindly set up a moth trap overnight, then identified the many different species for the children to see the next day. A highlight in 2025 was for the children to set the moths free at the end of the session.<\/p>\n

The Friends group has organised bird-watching sessions to coincide with the RSPB\u2019s Big Garden Bird Watch at the end of January. Initially these proved quite popular, and despite the often cold weather, quite a few families attended, enjoying the warming refreshments also on offer. Attendance has diminished however, and it is our intention to organise an hour\u2019s wildlife watch during GBGW in 2026.<\/p>\n

Within the church there are notice boards publicising events, local walks, and details about the churchyard conservation strategies. We are also proud to display the Norfolk Biodiversity Partnership Award won in 2018 \u201cfor the innovate way we approach conservation of the churchyards\u201d.<\/p>\n

We welcome local people to join us in any of the initiatives organised, e.g. monthly wildlife surveys, occasional work parties, or joining the Friends of All Saints group. The Friends aim is to help maintain the fabric of the building and its grounds, so that all are in good order for future generations to enjoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conservation Management Blofield and District Conservation Group BADCOG has cut and raked the southern churchyard since 1985, so celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2025! The undisturbed area is the most botanically diverse, with Pignut, Crosswort, Meadow foxtail, Dog violet, Dog\u2019s mercury, Meadow vetchling, Woodruff, Greater stitchwort, Red fescue, Selfheal, Greater Birdsfoot trefoil, Lesser stitchwort, Woodruff […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1843","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hemblingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hemblingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hemblingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hemblingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hemblingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1843"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.hemblingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3031,"href":"https:\/\/www.hemblingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1843\/revisions\/3031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hemblingtonchurch.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}