Today's most viewed
Graveyard haven for wildlife
 |
| Nigella Ballard and churchwarden Barbara Borrett, in the churchyard which is hosting a conservation day on Sunday |
CONSERVATION enthusiasts will be converging on one of Ryedale's oldest village churchyards on Sunday to see how wildlife havens for birds, animals, and wild flowers can be created.
St Helen's churchyard at Amotherby has been hailed as a fine example of how a churchyard which dates back several centuries can become a thriving habitat for wildlife.
The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is having an "open churchyard" day at Amotherby on Sunday from 2pm-5pm, as part of its "Living Churchyard Project" which has been backed by the Howardian Hills Sustainable Development Fund.
Churchwarden Barbara Borrett said the aim of the day was to show people from other churches in Ryedale what had been achieved at Amotherby where habitats have been created for nesting birds, owls, toads, frogs, and squirrels, and where wildflowers, unseen for years, have come back to life.
Some 29 churchyards in the Howardian Hills area have been surveyed under the scheme, added Mrs Nigella Ballard, the secretary of the conservation group, and chairman of the parish council.
"Old gravestones have been revealed as a result of the conservation work which has been carried out, clearing areas which had become so overgrown that hemlocks were almost the height of an adult."
Tours are to be given of the churchyard and there will be teas in the village hall.
10:29am Wednesday 26th March 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
