Churchyard Biodiversity and Heritage Project

Who we are

The Diocese of Coventry, in partnership with Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and Caring for God’s Acre, have been awarded funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop a Churchyard Biodiversity and Heritage Project within Coventry and Warwickshire.

This project seeks to protect, enhance and share the treasured green spaces, wildlife and heritage of churchyards within the diocese, and support local church councils to manage these special places with their local communities.

Project team:

Alison Wilkes – Project Manager
Frances Hall – Community Engagement and Development Officer
Sophie Smith – Biodiversity and Natural Heritage Officer
Contact us: churchyardproject@coventry.anglican.org

What's happening

Over the initial Development Phase, the project team are working with 10 churches and local communities across Coventry and Warwickshire, gathering ideas, organising wildlife surveys, working with schools and community groups and running events. Together we will create management and activity plans to maintain and enhance churchyards for nature, balancing needs of local users, site heritage and wildlife to create a bespoke approach for each site.

The project also has a number of research themes, looking at the management of short grass for maximum wildlife value, the value of churchyard habitats as soil carbon stores and churchyard visitors’ opinions of and relationships with nature.

Project update - October 2026

As the development phase of the Churchyard Biodiversity & Heritage Project comes to an end, the decision has been made not to make an application to the National Heritage Lottery Fund (NHLF) for the 5-year delivery phase.

We would like to thank all our churches for their involvement in this pilot work and particularly the project team for their dedication and commitment over this year long phase. There is much to be celebrated, with a full programme of workshops including butterfly training, bat walks and art amongst the flowers as well as valuable resource and advice, and by the end of the development phase churchyard plans will have been developed for 10 of our churches.

We are now working with our partners and the NHLF to ensure the work of the project is not lost and to explore avenues which might enable it to continue in another format.

Get involved!

There are lots of ways that you can get involved during our first year:

We are running lots of great events, from bat walks to family events to nature journalling! Check out the what’s on section below to find an event near you.
Get recording! Visit a churchyard and see what you observe. Upload your records to INaturalist [LINK] to share them with us, or email us your discoveries with the details below:

Where you saw the species - name of churchyard or cemetery
What you saw - as accurate a species name as possible
When you saw it - the date
Who you are - your name and ideally some contact details but name is the key thing
Please record nature responsibly and treat churchyards respectfully.

3. Do you have a special interest or expertise to share or just want to help out? Get in touch via email below.

What's on:

Archaeology Festival Trail - Explore the archaeology of your churchyard and discover how people have been connected to nature for thousands of years!

Links

Join our projects on INaturalist

Book onto our events on Eventbrite