The Wildlife in Sacred Places project comes to an end after three years

After three years of hard work, we are finally completing the report for our funders, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Cumbria Waste Management Environment Trust, and we feel that the project has been a great success. We've had good responses from many of the church communities, who requested surveys or asked for advice about managing church grounds and they have also been very positive about the attractive posters, specially produced for churches that had been surveyed, listing the species found there.

Out of the hundreds of sacred places identified in Cumbria, we surveyed almost 180 churchyards and cemeteries marking around 30% of all potential sites and a substantial step towards the original Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) target. This has given us a very useful baseline for monitoring any future changes.

Over 100 WISP volunteers recorded an impressive amount of data for around 450 species, including wildflowers, grasses, trees, ferns and mosses. The wild flower meadow indicator species of pignut was found at 65% of C of E sites, 15% above the BAP target.

School visits involving 480 children have seen churchyards used as outdoor classrooms, providing children with an opportunity to experience their local wildlife heritage at close quarters.
Community and volunteering workshops have provided opportunities for a wide range of people to learn and share their knowledge about the importance of sacred places for wildlife.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this very worthwhile project.

Wildlife in Sacred Places:  Practical help for church and other communities in managing grounds for wildlife

From 2007 until 2010, as part of this project, we helped church communities and others responsible for grounds associated with worship and retreat to manage their land in a way that is sympathetic to the needs of wildlife and in ways that encourage wildlife diversity.

We helped by:

• undertaking a basic survey to see what species of plants are present in your grounds
• visiting your church to discuss the practical aspects of managing grounds for wildlife
• providing an enquiry service responding by e-mail to specific queries about managing grounds for wildlife
• developing our web site with practical advice and links to good sources of information.

This project was supported by: