GEOFF'S ECO-TIPS

St James The Great

Old Milverton, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

Geoff's Eco Tips

Geoff’s June Eco-tip & Eco-church Update

Hi everyone,

This month’s tip from A Rocha again ties in very well with our ongoing Churchyard Biodiversity & Heritage Project. Taking part in citizen science survey events is a great way to do something of real value for nature and also to increase knowledge and understanding. The words shown in (green italics) are my notes with some suggestions and links to events associated with our own ongoing Diocesan Biodiversity Project. Our event on 14th June (Muddy Church and Bioblitz) promises to be 90 minutes of great fun for children and adults looking at nature, learning about it, and recording it.

This month’s Eco-tip for June, which is provided by A Rocha UK’s Easy Eco Tips 2026 Calendar: Easy Eco Tips 2026 Calendar - A Rocha UK

JUNE ECO-TIP

Take part in citizen science or a local nature event. Citizen science is a way for ordinary people to get involved in scientific research or data collection. There are many projects to choose from and it’s easy to make a contribution. Invite others to get involved with you too. Here are some projects that you could help with:

Search your local beach with a shore survey: Shoresearch | The Wildlife Trusts(As we are just about as far from the coast as you can be, here in Warwickshire – this might have to be a holiday thing!)

Spend ten minutes counting pollinators: Welcome to the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS) | PoMS(The ‘ten-minute count’ looks easy – you could do this in the new churchyard in the ‘wildflower’ area that we are developing!)

Join in with Churches Count on Nature (6-14 June): Churches Count on Nature - A Rocha UK(The easy way to get involved with this is to come along to the Muddy Church and Bioblitz event that we are holding at St James on 14 June at 3pm)

Do a Bee Walk:Home | BeeWalk Survey Scheme(This is a simple survey that you participate in during a monthly short walk from your home. You will learn more about bees if you take part – take a look at the website)

Join Great Big Green Week (6-14 June): The Great Big Green Week (There seems to be a lot of events in the Stratford area during this time – check the website to see if anything interests you.)

For more practical ways to enjoy, nurture and defend nature, sign up to A Rocha UK’s Wild Christian email: arocha.org.uk/wild-christian

Churchyard Biodiversity & Heritage Project - ST JAMES UPDATE JUNE 2026.

During May, surveys for Soil health, Moths and Lichens were carried out.

It was a beautiful early morning in the churchyard on May 9th for the Moth Breakfast (see photo). Thank you to all of you who came along to make it such a thoroughly enjoyable morning. Sophie and Frances from the Diocesan team identified 5 different moth species and some other interesting creepy crawlies that had found their way into the trap overnight. Everyone was able to have a good close-up view of each insect. We all then enjoyed bacon butties, pastries and coffee, before the experts carefully released the insects into safe places. Did you know? - there are over 2,500 species of moth in the UK. Unlike butterflies or bees, they travel long distances (some species fly up to 600 km in one night!) and they are very important pollinators.

The Lichen Group came to St James on the morning of May14th. The two-woman team arrived at 10am and stayed all morning despite the weather which was cold and occasionally drizzly. They found many different species of Lichen, including some that they had not seen before and have sent us some information which we will keeping alongside all the other survey information. Incidentally, that morning we saw the first ‘Painted Lady (butterfly) of the season! Did you know that Lichens are a combination of two different organisms (firstly an alga and secondly a fungus).

Michael and I have completed a Churchyard Soil Survey and the samples are now at a laboratory undergoing various tests. We await the results to find out how heathy our soil is. All we can say at this stage is that there was a notable lack of earthworms!

The next planned event is a ‘Bioblitz’ on Sunday 14th June at 3pm. (See note elsewhere in the Update).

If anyone would like to be involved in a once -a-month Butterfly survey in the churchyard over the summer months, possibly on the Dog Walkers’ coffee mornings) please do contact me.

Thanks to everyone who has completed a Community Consultation Questionnaire about the project.

It’s still not too late If you haven’t yet done this and we would be very grateful if you could – it takes less than 5 minutes!

With love, Geoff