Dear all PCC clerks/members of church yard maintenance teams,

We are writing to outline the exciting new structure of the Northamptonshire Conservation
Church yard Award Scheme and how your church yard can play a part. We are grateful to
Bishop Donald for allowing us to use the Diocesan mailing system. For those of you who are
unaware, Bishop Donald is our patron and a staunch supporter of the scheme.

The scheme is open to all church yards, big or small, urban and rural and there are now
already 40+ church yards involved in actively working towards making their church yard a
good place for both people and wildlife. We have therefore decided to follow up this
enthusiasm; by creating three levels of awards, Bronze, Silver & Gold - details elsewhere - 
each with a plaque to display, that your church yard can work towards. Therefore
any church yard, regardless of the size or time-span of their work can take part. (The
competition will still run for all gold level church yards, where they may still win the
hedgehog trophy).

To this end we will be assessing all involved church yards over this summer, with an
awards ceremony to award the gold, silver and bronze plaques (the competition
element will be suspended for one year, until all assessments are complete).

A Guide to our Assessment follows (potential points scored)

Grasslands & Meadow Plants

♦Spring areas (cut in late spring/early summer) (2)
♦Summer meadows (cut in late autumn) (2)
♦ Uncut areas (cover for small mammals) (2)
♦ Mown and strimmed grass picked up (2)
♦ Paths through and around meadows (1)
♦ Efforts to improve/develop flowers & reduce coarse grasses (2)
♦ Nettles retained and managed in sunny areas (2)
♦Other areas of short mown grassland (1)
♦ No spraying of chemicals or herbicides (1)

♦ Old trees are well maintained (1) & new plantings well cared for (1)
♦ Providing berries/fruit (1), seeds/nuts (1) and nectar (1)
♦ Mainly native species (1)
♦ Provide potential nest sites (1)

♦ A plan of the churchyard (1), displayed (1)
♦ A management plan (1), displayed (1) & being implemented (1)
♦ Attempts to involve others (1) & evidence of effort/enthusiasm (1)
♦ Surveys have been carried out fl) & monitoring of species continues (1)
♦ Up to date information about the churchyard available (1) & 
other conservation information provided (1)

♦ Mix of vegetation heights (2)
♦ Log or brushwood piles (1) & compost heap (1)
♦ Pond or any water feature (i.e. bird bath) (1)
♦ Bird boxes or good supply of natural nesting sites (1)
♦ Bat boxes or evidence of bats using buildings (1)
♦ Seed bearing plants for finches left over winter (1)
♦ Insect tubes/bug hotels (1) & no unsympathetic pointing /repairs (1)

The Response from Blisworth:

 Northamptonshire Churchyard Conservation Award Scheme - 2013
Blisworth Application for Silver Award

Grass cutting regime  The four village churchyards have different regimes.  The current Parish Churchyard is mown fairly regularly to keep it neat and tidy. The mowings are picked up when possible. No sprays or herbicides are being used in this area. There are some areas of grass and nettles around the perimeter which are left uncut.

The Old Parish Graveyard (ie. the Cemetery) has a semi-circular grass path which is mown regularly and connects to the main new woodchip path. Other areas where we plan to have wild flowers will only be mowed at appropriate times. No sprays or herbicides are used. The mowings are not collected here.

The Baptist New Churchyard is mown fairly regularly to keep it neat and tidy. The mowings are collected.

The Baptist Old Churchyard is strimmed once or twice a year and the cut grass is not collected.  There are native wild flowers growing there.

Planting  Blackthorn, Hawthorn and Hazel saplings have recently been planted in both the old Churchyard and The Cemetery to form two small hedges. The numbers of Snowdrops, Foxgloves, Aconites and Cowslips have been increased by division and the sowing of seeds. Verbascum has been planted from seedlings on a village allotment. This planting has been done to a varying extent in all of the graveyards.

We plan to start a wildflower area in the Cemetery where grass cuttings will be removed and mowing will only take place at appropriate times. Also in this area existing trees are being monitored and maintained. The Lime trees have been pollarded, the sail area of a large Ash has been reduced and the lower growths removed from some trees.

Habitat  The Blisworth Scouts and the Benefice Messy Church group have both made bird boxes which are being installed. The Benefice children plan to make insect boxes next. Log and twig piles are present in all the graveyards. A variety of bat species have been seen over a wide area including the Cemetery and down to the canal. We are in the process of identifying the species present. The provision of bat boxes will be considered but it seems roosting sites are plentiful in the village. Lichens are present on many of our headstones (which have not been disturbed) and on old walls and on an ancient cross. Note that a survey carried out a few years back by a villager revealed that many species of moss are doing well in the Church yard.

Information An information board has been placed in the porch of the Parish Church. Plans are in hand to use an existing (unused) frame (donated by the Blisworth Heritage Society) in the Church yard to display information about management for wildlife, to list of observed species of plants and animals, to record the old graves and provide a history of the graveyard. A management plan is being formalised, incorporating what we have already achieved and our plans for the future.

This application is being put forward, as was the case last year, by the Blisworth Parish Plan Progress Team. It has the support of our two churches involved and the Parish Council. The village survey in 2010 showed that people here are very concerned about their environment. This project is one way in which they can be involved in the conservation of some of the wide range of habitats around our village.