For about three years we have managed the churchyard for wildlife.  The part where the majority of more recent graves are is kept neat though not cut close, allowing Buttercups, Germander Speedwell, Ox-eye Daisies and other wild flowers to flourish.  

The rest of the churchyard is cut in early Spring and again in the late autumn but the rest of the time most is allowed to grow naturally, providing a haven for invertebrates and pollinators and delighting the eye with the range of wildflowers, fungi, lichen, butterflies and bugs of all colours.  Some Yellow Rattle has been sown to try to keep some of the more vigorous grasses under control and, on the north side, the grass is cut in late summer to try to encourage the waxcaps to emerge.  We know they have been there in the past so the root system is still there.   

At night the churchyard is still active with deer, badgers, moles, moths and bats, including, we have confirmed, a greater horseshoe bat.

In 2023 we entered the CPRE Devon's Best Churchyard competition and were delighted to receive a Certificate of Commendation. 

We have been keeping records of everything we have identified and, by the end of 2023 we had the following:

Invertebrates - 367 of which 222 are moths

Plants - 151

Fungi, Lichen and Protista - 31 - but lots more to be identified during 2024  when he are planning to have a lichen training and identification day in June.

Do look at the attached files for the latest lists of each group