Starting in 2008 the project to create the Churchyard Wildflower Meadow was initiated by a team of churchgoers led by Christoph Harwood. Their inspiration for this work was captured by the following objective:
The churchyard is a place of biodiversity, where species which God creates, may flourish. Especially those plant and animal species which are rare and threatened with extinction.
David Rumble of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife trust was quoted by Christoph as stating “Churchyards are often the last remaining fragments of our landscapes to have escaped the plough – for obvious reasons – and many retain rare flora and fauna lost from the wider countryside. If managed appropriately, churchyards can be important reservoirs from which wildlife colonises neighbouring land. Churchyards often have features such as ancient trees, old tombs and botanically rich grassland which host unusual and sometimes rare species – for these reasons they usually punch above their weight in terms of wildlife per acre.”
A large area of the churchyard to the west of the church has been allowed to grow wild. The meadow has paths cut through allowing access to graves, and also allowing a good view of the various plant species growing there, which include pyramid orchids. The resulting hay is mown every year in late July/early August by John MacKinlay using his special cutter. After mowing it is allowed to lay on the ground to dry for a week, but with a team of people turning the hay to help the drying process and importantly to allow any seed from the wildflowers to fall back onto the ground to wait for spring and germination.
Wild flowers need poor conditions to thrive and the best way to achieve this is to take a hay crop and remove as much grass as possible so the nutrients do not go back into the soil. Yellow rattle, a semi-parasitic grassland annual has been sown in this area, it weakens grasses and takes nutrients out of the soil thus helping with the establishment of other wild flowers.
After a week of drying a working party is arranged to rake up the hay and bundle it on to transport to take it to a suitable recipient. This work has to be done by hand as it is impossible to get a hay bailer in to the churchyard and work around the graves. Initially the hay was taken to Court House Dexter cattle, now it is taken up to the Butser Ancient Farm animals.
Graham Davenport is currently co-ordinating this work. If you are interested in helping please contact Graham at grahammdavenport0@gmail.com.
