About Us | Wildlife

Who we are

South Petherwin Cake and Rakers (SPCR) are a community group of all ages and abilities who aim to improve the biodiversity and amenity value of St Paternus Churchyard in South Petherwin, Cornwall.

We have been working in partnership with Cornwall Wildlife Trust and the Diocese of Truro through their Living Churchyards Initiative, and have the support of St Paternus Parochial Church Council (PCC) and South Petherwin Parish Council. Since 2019 we have been working with Cormac, the contractors for Cornwall Council, as a volunteer group. We take advice from Caring For God's Acre, who work nationally to support groups like ours in looking after these unique spaces.

We have a managing committee of 4, which includes members with professional and academic experience in ecology. In addition, we currently have a pool of around 20 volunteers to draw from, which we hope to increase as the project develops.

What we do

We have produced a management plan that provides for a variety of wildlife habitats throughout the year – spring and summer meadows, areas of long grass and areas of permanent short grass. This plan is followed by Cormac and the timing of grass cutting is based on the need to allow favourable species to set seed, and to discourage the spread of invasive herbs and coarse grasses.

Each time the grass is cut we rake and remove the arisings to reduce the nutrient input - wildflowers prefer poor soils. We also have a range of additional projects to enhance the biodiversity value of the site, such as the installation of bat and bird boxes and the construction of a bug house. Our events are always followed by tea and homemade cakes to reward our volunteers. The social aspect is very important to us!

Why we do it

St Paternus is a Grade I listed building at the heart of the village. There has been a church here since Saxon times, and the current building while largely Medieval retains Norman elements. The visible monuments in the graveyard are only a small representation of the number of people who have been buried here. The churchyard is in two sections - the extention that is currently used for burials managed by the PCC, and the older closed graveyard managed by Cornwall Council, though the land still belongs to the Diocese of Truro. It is the closed section that our project concerns.

Since the management of the closed churchyard passed from the PCC to Cornwall Council the site has been managed and maintained on their behalf by Cormac. As things stood the whole site was cut 3 times a year. Residents had complained about the often overgrown state of the churchyard and the difficulty in visiting graves. A number of us were also saddened to see the impact on wildlife - the abundance and diversity of wildlife in the churchyard had noticeably decreased over the years. We saw an opportunity to do things differently.

Our management plan sets out where and when to cut so we are able to benefit both wildlife and the community. As only sections of the churchyard are being cut each time there is more capacity within Cormac's budget to follow the plan - visiting more often but cutting less. We now have a mosaic of different habitats, wildflowers can set seed, and aggressive plants kept under control. Wilder areas are left so hedgehogs, slow worms and other creatures have a refuge from the mower.

We aim to provide a haven at the heart of South Petherwin for the benefit of the village, as well as for the wildlife. We maintain paths through the meadows to open up access to the site, and are working to maintain cut areas around visited graves (if you regularly visit a grave and struggle to reach it please get in touch and we will eneavour to add it to our maintained areas). The churchyard no longer looks uncared for, but we are mindful that this is a long term project - we are allowing the churchyard to regenerate naturally rather than introduce a generic mix of wildflowers. We are hopeful that over the years, as well as benefitting the biodiversity of the churchyard, we will be growing something our community can be truly proud of and use as a place of retreat, enjoyment and education.

We have had to work really hard to get the project to where it is now. We have made plenty of mistakes and learnt many lessons along the way. We would love to see other communities bringing their churchyards back to life, so to speak, so if you are planning something similar and would like to learn more, please do get in touch and we would be more than happy to share our experiences.