Firstly, please could you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you’ve been working on? 

My name is Walter Gibson and I am a churchwarden at St John and the Holy Cross Church, Cotebrook, which is part of the Parish of Tarporley. In 2022, our church joined the Eco Church programme, run by the charity A Rocha. This programme is designed to encourage and support churches to reduce their impact on the world around us. Every aspect of church life and responsibility is included – land, worship, buildings, community and lifestyle.  

This is when we began to think about our land – the churchyard – and how we maintain it. We wondered whether we could do more to support wildlife while still meeting the needs of relatives of loved ones who are buried there, and visitors who come for quiet contemplation. It is this balance that we are striving to get right. Up until this point, our focus had only been on keeping the grass short and the churchyard tidy. We had not really thought about it being a home for wildlife.  

What have you done so far to improve the space for wildlife?   

There is one part of the churchyard, the north bank, which is on a slope and not used for burials. It is quite a large area, and our first thought was that it could be used to grow wildflowers to support pollinators. This became a community effort with volunteers from the church and village offering their support.

With a grant from our local parish council through their Jubilee Development Fund we were able to purchase wildflower seeds. It also paid for two bird boxes and a new Amelanchier tree which has flowers in spring and berries in autumn. Early in 2023, a team of five volunteers began sowing wildflowers in seed trays at home. Through their efforts, we grew over 300 plants, including ox-eye daisies, rough hawkbit, bird’s foot trefoil, and knapweed – all perennials that would come back year on year.   

With advice from a number of sources, including Adam Linnet from Cheshire Wildlife Trust and the charity God’s Acre, we realised that in addition to planting new wildflowers we could also change our mowing regime to encourage growth of plants that were already there. Any church over 40 years old is likely to have wildflowers already present in the grass, but they are suppressed by close mowing. 

We therefore changed our mowing regime to have a mix of short grass around the main path to the church, medium around the older graves and long on the north bank wildflower area. We also left a 1-metre strip of grass uncut around the periphery. We have found that even in medium length areas, wildflowers such as foxes and cubs appear. 

How has the community reacted to the new areas?  

It took a little while to introduce these changes and we had some negative feedback from some users. We have learned the importance of communicating what we are trying to do, and now have a map and explanation near the gate. This, and more consistent mowing (weather permitting) have improved the situation.  

How did you create the wildflower meadow? 

The wildflower area was planted up in August 2023 after scarifying the whole area. Our volunteer growers spent an afternoon digging them in and giving them a good water. We also sowed yellow rattle and red clover. This year they all flowered and seem to be getting established. The yellow rattle didn’t germinate but the clover has. In addition, we are seeing plants such as cuckoo flower, meadow buttercup and cow parsley which were there already.  

The long grass is just in the process of being cut, mostly by hand using a small scythe. Strimming chops the grass up and makes it more difficult to rake it all away afterwards.  

Have you seen any wildlife using the new habitats? 

We have yet to see any visitors to our bird boxes but we see lots of birds, including swifts, around the church in summer and in some years swallows nest in the porch. We have moles in the churchyard and also saw a hedgehog last year. We hope to do more monitoring of wildlife next year, including plant diversity. We  have been invited to join the Cheshire Wildlife Trust slow worm and lizard survey which we're looking forward to. We are also working to find eco-friendly solutions to keeping weeds down on the main path.  

Our journey is just beginning, and we still have a lot to learn but we are hopeful that the small changes we have made will have a big impact on wildlife and help us get a better balance for them, and for the people who use the churchyard. Our thanks to everyone who has helped us along the way.  

If you’d like to get involved or offer help, please get in touch with Walter at  waltergibson52@gmail.com