Environment - Friends of Bowdon Churchyard

Bees, Bushes and Bird Boxes – creating a special space for nature to thrive

Our aim is to create a haven for wildlife. To allow nature to reclaim parts of the churchyard and to provide a suitable environment in which insects, birds, animals, flowers, trees etc can survive and grow as nature intended.

We will designate an area and remove unwanted vegetation that has grown and is strangling our indigenous species. Once cleared we will reseed with wild flowers and remove unwanted invaders should they reappear.

We will encourage bees, the symbol of Manchester, to make their home in the churchyard and to aid in its rejuvenation.

We are currently seeking sponsorship to help fund the necessary work and expenditure.

We also do surveys of birds, butterflies, plants and wildflowers on an annual basis.

When you visit the churchyard you will hopefully spot that we have numbered bird boxes.

These bird boxes are made by The Chapel In The Fields and there are different entrance hole sizes to attract different species of birds. All bird boxes are numbered so that we can keep a record of who has donated them and whether we have been able to attract various birds that inhabit the locale. Check out the table below to see how successful we have been.

Thank you to the following ‘Bird Box’ sponsors

Nest Box	Type	Doner	Sept 2022	Sept 2023	Oct 2024
		In 2021 Nest boxes were added to the Churchyard	1st inspection Nest/condition	2nd inspection Nest/Condition	3rd inspection Nest/Condition
1	25mm Blue & Coal Tit	Christine Weekes	Wet inside	Dry inside	Dry inside
2	25mm Blue & Coal Tit	David Weekes (in memory of Bryan Weekes)	Wet inside	Dry inside	Dry inside
3	32mm House/Tree Sparrow, Great Tit ,Pied Flycatcher & Nuthatch	Tammy Reeves	Dry inside	Dry inside	Dry inside
4	32mm House/Tree Sparrow, Great Tit ,Pied Flycatcher & Nuthatch	Tammy Reeves	Dry inside	Dry inside	Dry inside
5	28mm Blue/Coal/Marsh/Great Tit & tree Sparrow	Robert Redford	With nest – 2 unhatched eggs Dry inside	Dry inside	Dry inside
6	28mm Blue/Coal/Marsh/Great Tit & tree Sparrow	Sue Redford	Dry inside	Dry inside	Dry inside
7	25mm Blue & Coal Tit	Tim & Jenny Borthwick (in memory of Jennifer Borthwick)	Wet inside	Dry inside	Dry inside
8	28mm Blue/Coal/Marsh/Great Tit & tree Sparrow	Richard Abbott	With nest Dry inside	With nest and 2 unhatched eggs (blue tits)	abandoned nest with 8 eggs small and white. Dry inside
9	32mm House/Tree Sparrow, Great Tit ,Pied Flycatcher & Nuthatch	Clive, Philippa & Eve Goodall	Dry inside	Dry inside	Dry inside
10	25mm Blue & Coal Tit	Ken & Joanna Williams	Wet inside (Moved position)	With nest Successfully hatched (blue tits).Dry inside	Nest with 2 dead chicks in it. Dry inside
11	25mm Blue & Coal Tit	Samantha Simons	With nest Dry inside	Dry inside	Nest with 4 dead chicks in it. Dry inside
12	25mm Blue & Coal Tit	Tracy Taylor (in remembrance of Brenda Buffet nee Williams 1937 – 2020)	With nest Dry inside	Dry inside	Dry inside
13	28mm Blue/Coal/Marsh/Great Tit & tree Sparrow	Hilary Edwards	With nest Dry inside	Started building a nest. Dry inside	Dry inside
14	32mm House/Tree Sparrow, Great Tit ,Pied Flycatcher & Nuthatch	Sue & Anna Duncan	Dry inside	With nest and 1 unhatched egg (blue tit)	Dry inside

Going Wild with Wildflowers

Download Tony’s Guidance

Tony Cadman is a hugely experienced gardener by profession as well as a Friend of Bowdon Churchyard. Tony has been kind enough to give us the benefit of his invaluable knowledge of planting wildflowers:

1	Choose any mixed variety of seeds
2	Prepare the ground in advance as follows: –
	Remove any leaves, rake the ground to give a loose surface with soil visible.
	If this isn’t possible then sow the seeds and cover with a thin layer of soil/compost.
3	The seeds can be soaked overnight, prior to sowing, in warm tap water (this helps them to germinate) if you wish.
4	Seeds can be sown the first 2 weeks of April.
5	Scatter the seeds so they just cover the ground, don’t put them in clumps.
6	When the seeds have been scattered either on to the raked ground or after covering the seeds with soil/compost, tamp the area with the rake or your feet making the ground solid.
7	Water them using a watering can.

Then watch and wait for them show themselves, they could be showing by the end of April.