Gardening for Wildlife
At St Denys we're committed to helping nature thrive in the heart of the city. And you're welcome to come along and help. Read on to find out more about what we're doing and the wildlife that is making itself at home.
The Value of Churchyards & grounds
Increasingly it has been recognised that churchyards offer a wonderful opportunity for wildlife. Often these sites have been set apart for decades or centuries, and as such offere much needed refuge for our native wildlife. St Denys' churchyard has provided habitat for hedgehogs, frogs, newts, woodmice and a wide range of insects. There are even honey-bees high up on the south side of the church. We love that wildlife is making it's home with us and we want to do more to help it thrive in the heart of our community.
What are we doing at St Denys?
Here at St Denys Church we doing a wide range of things to help wildlife thrive in the heart of the city. This includes:
- Planting over 100 native wildflowers plugs
- Putting up bird boxes, including swift boxes
- Allowing large areas of grass to grow long in early summer,so that the wild-flowers in the grass have an opportunity to flower and provide nectar for pollinating insects.
- Scything the long grass and clearing it so that the soil remains suitable for meadow plants to grow (see below)
- Creating heaps of rotting logs that allow many types of beetles to develop from larvae such as the large stag beetle.
- Constructing wildlife hotels
- Apples left on the grounds from apple trees provide food in particular for blackbirds in the autumn.
What wildlife have we spotted?
It's great that we have some eagle-eyed nature spotters who keep an eye out for nature making itself at home. Here are some of the delights we have spotted in recent months
- Meadow-brown butterflies
- Stagbeetles
- Parrot Waxcap Mushroom which signifies a traditional wildlife rich meadow. (see the beautiful image below)
- Marmalade Hoverfly
- Cut-leaf Cranesbill
- Foxs&Cub (Plant)
- Spear Thistle
- Bluebells
- Herb Bennet
- Cricket
- Ox-eye Daisy
- Rye Grass
- Hawkbit
- Sorrell
The Gardening Group
You can come and join us at the following times, and you're really welcome to come along and join in.
On the second Saturday morning September to May. 9.30 am tll 12 noon.
In June and July we meet on Monday evenings 7 till 8pm
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