Monday, March 06, 2023

Churchyard working party

Many thanks to those who came along on Saturday to help with our churchyard working party.
We have a wonderful churchyard, but, as well as some routine tasks, we thought we could do with some bird and bat boxes, to enrich it as a wildlife habitat. So our Eco Church group got to work! Photos by Babs Bartholomew, Heather Alwen and the Vicar.


Much discussion about locations was necessary, and a bit of refreshment!


One bird box up - many thanks to the Alwen family for giving these to us, and to Kathy and her husband for preparing them, so they are squirrel and woodpecker proof.




Meanwhile, the ground level drainage gutters needed cleaning. These may be part of the original medieval building, but as we aren't on mains drainage, they are still very much needed. Clearing them of mud, leaves, plants etc. is essential to avoid large puddles making the walls damp. We thought about the 800 years or so of people doing this task again and again...




Here and there along the gutters are small groups of holes, which get blocked with earth, and are almost impossible to spot unless you know what you are looking for. The application of a tent peg wiggled around in them does the job of unblocking them, for the moment, at least.




Birdboxes up - now it's the turn of the bat boxes, which needed to be up higher, and closer together. How about in this old yew tree? Fortunately we had Matt with us, who fearlessly shinned up a ladder and perched in the tree to do the work.

The rest of us just watched in an encouraging way...


But if Dad is up a tree, his daughter might as well be too.












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