This project brought the opportunity to be involved with enhancing the churchyard grounds through wildlife gardening by creating ‘mini-meadows’, providing nesting and roosting sites. Events have been delivered in the local churches to increase participation from local communities to use the spaces for activities, meeting places, events etc.
A new audio guide has been produced with many interesting facts about the 14 standing church and each tour is available on the Izi travel app. There is also a QR code available in each church.
14 mosaic artworks have been created by the local community and are stunning pieces of art which incorporate the wildlife found in Romney marsh and heritage of each church.
Sentinels on the Marsh – other activities contributes to Rediscover project theme.
Visit the
volunteering page to find out more about getting involved with Fifth Continent projects.
2020
EXISTING AREAS OF WILDFLOWERS IMPROVED
Existing areas of wildflowers have been improved by raking out the dead grass and thatch which would otherwise smother emerging wildflowers. The areas have been sown with a meadow mix to increase the diversity and provide food for a range of invertebrates.
THE MARSH MOSAICS: FUNDING SUCCESS!
Arts Council England has awarded a grant of £15,000 towards this project. This is the first ever Arts Council England award for Kent Wildlife Trust.
DRAFT SCRIPTS FINISHED FOR AUDIO GUIDE
All of the draft scripts for the app are finished and we’re now working with John Hendy from Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust to refine and edit these.
POTENTIAL THEMES FOR MARSH MOSAICS
We’ve been working with the 10 churches involved to create a long-list of potential themes for each mosaic. We’re also gathering ideas from the community.
MARSH MOSAICS UPDATE
We’ve been working with the church wardens at the 10 churches involved to identify suitable sites for the mosaic panels and have been gathering many interesting ideas for the mosaics.
TWO AREAS OF WILDFLOWER MEADOW CREATED
We have created 2 areas of wildflower meadow at St Marys in the Marsh working with the church wardens to physically remove an area of short grass which lacked floral diversity. This was then sown with a diverse mix of 36 species of wildflowers and grasses which will embed in the soil over the winter ready to germinate in the spring and create an area which is much better for a host of insects including bees and other pollinators.
GATHERING FACTS & INFO FOR AUDIO GUIDE
We are visiting each of the churches and gathering lots of interesting facts and information, to help design the structure of our new app.
THE MARSH MOSAICS: FUNDING SUCCESS!
The Lochlands Trust has generously awarded £5,000 to support our Marsh Mosaics project with the historic churches on Romney Marsh.
PREFERRED PLATFORM SELECTED FOR AUDIO GUIDE
We have selected Izi Travel as our preferred platform for the Audio Guide Project. This brilliant platform offers many flexible audio-visual options and provides excellent integration with GPS and Google Maps.
Bird boxes being installed at Snave
Working with the local church at Snave we will be encouraging more wildlife to use the church yard by installing a number of bird boxes and planting pollinator friendly perennials including comfrey and black horehound.
TESTING PLATFORMS FOR AUDIO GUIDE
We have been testing various different platforms for our audio guide project with Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust. This new technology should help reveal the fascinating heritage of these incredible buildings.
2019
Owl boxes installed
Two owl boxes have been made by the community and have been installed in the grounds of St Eanswith Church in Brenzett.
Church art project in development
The Artists in Residents programme is being replaced by a creative arts project which will involve communities and the medieval marsh churches. More details to follow.
Gathering of church wardens
The Archdeacon held a meeting of Church Wardens at which we presented a vision for engaging new audiences in heritage and wildlife associated with the church grounds. As a result several Church Wardens have shown an interest and many new events are in the pipeline.
Works continue at Ivychurch
We held an at St George Ivychurch event on Sun 28 April. Together with the local community we planted a Lavender border. A plant sale was also held to raise funds for the church at which over a £100 was raised.
Works continue at Ivychurch
We will be continuing the works at Ivychurch by holding an event on Sunday 28 April to plant a Lavender boarder. The event will include a plant sale, and tea and cakes.
2018
Wildlife in Churchyard
Lots of wildlife features now in the churchyard at St George Ivychurch including two wildflower areas and a number of native flower planters. Also in discussion with the Ivychurch Parish Council with the view to delivering wildflower area around the village hall.
Volunteers nominated for award
The volunteers from this project have been nominated for the Kent Environment Award and have been filmed as part of this achievement.
Wildlife in churchyards
SUNDAY 1 JULY – EVENT AT ST GEORGE CHURCH, IVYCHURCH. Talk to residents of Ivychurch parish on wildlife in the churchyard. 19 people from the village attended – engaged audience participated in the event, with a follow up event planned for Sept. Following the event some local residents have planned to improve their gardens for wildlife to expand the impact of the project.
Wildlife discussions
Officer met with Church Wardens at Ivy Church to discuss wildlife friendly options for the churchyard.
Visit our News Archive page.
