SOUTH STOKE BIODIVERSITY PROJECT

Documenting local wildlife around Bath, Somerset & protecting it for future generations.

I have been working with a local wildlife team (Sue Monk and Anne Fox) in South Stoke to document the flora and fauna through the seasons around the churchyard. We hope by keeping a record we will be able to document changes in the seasons. We are also keen to make changes to the small church yard to encourage more wildlife to reside there. By keeping the grass long, and only cutting where necessary to keep the public safe, the team has found an increase in insects and fauna in the small space. In my time with them over the last 9 months, I have been struck by how late the seasons have been this year.

Have a look below at some examples of the things we have seen.

Autumn

11.12.22

Winter

08.02.23

Spring

10.05.23

The grass had been cut in early April. We looked at each quadrant in turn:

North East Daisy, Dandelion, Bluebell, Cyclamen’ variegated leaves, Herb Robert, Germander Speedwell, Mind-your-own-business, Fleabane

North West Buttercup, Ivy-leaved toadflax, Wall-rue, Bugle, Stonecrop within a kerbed grave, Peony within a kerbed grave, Nettle, Bugle, Ragwort not in flower

South East Ribwort plantain, Buttercup, Common sorrel

South West Daisy, Germander speedwell, brighter green new growth of Ivy, Buttercup, Herb robert, Mind-your-own-business, St John’s wort, Hazel seedling, Herb bennet, Dandelion, Spleenwort and Harts tongue ferns on the corner wall, Smooth hawkbeard, Common cleavers, Star jelly liverwort

In the air Swifts, Swallows, Lesser black-backed gull, an Orange tip butterfly