Churches Count on Nature Report 2023

Reepham Churches Count on Nature Report 2023

For the third year Reepham Church took part in Churches Count on Nature Week: counting what calls our churchyard home and encouraging people to come and see what lives within it.

A total of 120 species of wildlife were found, from the flowers in our conservation areas, to lichens and mosses, ants, woodlice and much more. We held a Churchyard Wildlife Day where participants could follow a sensory trail: looking; listening; smelling; touching and counting. We encouraged people to look carefully at the flowers and record which colours were attractive to insects: the blue flowers of Alkanet were the most visited by bees.

The highlight of the day was the discovery of the exuvia (nymph case) of a damselfly on the emergent vegetation of our washing- up bowl pond! The bowl had been sunk into the wildlife-friendly garden in May 2022, filled using rain water, with oxygenating weed and an emergent plant being added. A damselfly must have laid its eggs on the leaves; the nymph hatched and developed to emerge as an adult. Ann, an elderly member of the congregation said; “That is amazing! I must ask my son to make one in my garden.”

Rachel Richmond
Eco Church Lead
St Mary’s & St Michael’s Reepham