Love Your Burial Ground Week means hundreds of church communities across the country will take part in a week-long nature count to monitor and celebrate the biodiversity in churchyards.
This annual project takes place from Saturday, June 6 to Sunday, June 15 and in 2024 there were 6,354 records of nature spotted that were submitted by nearly 6,000 participants, representing a fantastic contribution to the understanding of the ecological value of these special places.
This initiative is jointly run by the conservation charities Caring for God’s Acre and A Rocha UK, together with the Church of England and the Church in Wales.
Diocesan Advisory Committee Secretary Lisa McIntyre said: “We regularly get enquiries from people about their churchyards and how they can enhance these unique green spaces in order to welcome visitors – both human and smaller creatures.
“Small changes to churchyards and their management can have a massive impact for wellbeing for people and can increase local biodiversity, often at very limited financial cost.
“Churchyard improvement activities also open up great opportunities for engaging with new audiences and community groups. The invaluable resources for Love your Burial Ground Week are full of ideas to make best use of your churchyard and share the love.
“I would also recommend the diocese’s own churchyard toolkit, which is available on our website.”
Full details of how to engage with Love Your Burial Ground Week are available here