Last year during Love your Burial Ground week in June we ran a citizen science week where over 4,000 people joined in by sending us records of what they had seen in their local churchyard, cemetery, or other types of burial ground. Over 17,000 wildlife records were submitted, and most are now available to see on the National Biodiversity Atlas (NBN) – the UK’s largest biodiversity database.
The top three birds recorded were a blackbird, robin and woodpigeon, the top three trees were Yew, Sycamore and Hawthorn and the top three insects were Bumblebee, Honeybee and Hoverfly.
June this year (Sat 4th –Sun 12th) sees another weeklong celebration of burial grounds together with the ‘Churches Count on Nature’ initiative which is jointly run by us, A Rocha UK, the Church of England and the Church in Wales. We would love to know what wildlife you see during this week. To make it easier to send in records we have now registered on iNaturalist which is simple to use and allows you to take a photo on your phone, upload it to the system and get instant help with identification if needed.
Anything you record using iNaturalist will go through to our Beautiful Burial Ground Atlas on the NBN - building the picture of just how important burial grounds are for wildlife. Beware though it can be quite addictive - I am always wanting to pop into a churchyard or cemetery while passing - just to put a few more records on the list!
For more information on using iNaturalist and other ways to submit your wildlife sightings, please visit the Caring for God's Acre website webpage. We would love you to join in!
Andrea Gilpin
Email: andrea@cfga.org.uk
Website: www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk
Individuals and groups in the diocese receive a 20% members discount on all CfGA materials. Use the discount code diomem22