The Sid Valley’s churchyards are being celebrated for their wealth of wildflowers, which range across more than 70 species.

Different people have different ideas on what a churchyard should be like, but the charity organisation Caring For God’s Acre sees wildflowers as part of God’s creation that should be given a home among the gravestones. Two projects, Beautiful Burial Grounds and Count On Nature Week have come together, and volunteers from the Biodiversity Group have been cataloguing the wildflowers in local churchyards. The results are surprisingly good with a wide variety of plants from many botanical families.

It is fitting that Woolbrook Church has the highest local species count, as it is dedicated to St Francis of Assisi. One of the things St Francis is best known for is his love of nature, and Pope John Paul II named him the Patron Saint of Ecology in 1979. In a 90-minute survey last week 71 species were recorded. When she was told, Curate Revd. Sarah Mounoury said: “That’s great, I’m delighted to hear that we have 71 species in our churchyard.” She went on to explain that it was a team effort but particular thanks must go to Churchwarden Liz Harris who organises the efforts needed to maintain the diversity. Adding records kept by Liz, the total species count for the site is a splendid 141, and there are many insect and other animal species too.

The wild plant species recorded around the St Francis churchyard included the delicate lilac pea Smooth Tare, the bright yellow Creeping Cinquefoil, a colony of unusual white flowered Dog Violets, and a lovely Dog Rose festooned with bright pink flowers in early June.

One puzzle is the presence of Water Figwort. This sturdy plant with its square, winged stem has small, deep purple flowers with two stand up petals like a pair of Mickey Mouse ears. As the name suggests, Water Figwort is usually found in water meadows and beside ponds, but it is growing happily in the churchyards of St Francis, Woolbrook and St Giles and St Nicholas, Sidmouth.

Another curiosity is the east wall of St Giles, Sidbury. Like many ancient churchyards, centuries of interment have raised the ground level inside the churchyard and a retaining wall is needed. The east wall is a brick structure and there are many plants growing in cracks between the bricks with their roots able to creep through to reach the rich soil behind. Somehow, Adiantum Maidenhair Ferns have established a colony and they are thriving. Most commonly kept as house plants, these delicate plants usually live on damp limestone cliffs, and a brick wall is obviously a good enough substitute.

Less surprising are the cliff dwelling ferns on the eastern churchyard wall of Sidmouth Parish Church, the subject of a Herald article back in 2022. This wall is made of limestone not brick and so the Wall Rue ferns are not out of place and were recorded 175 years ago. Also, the tight curls of Silky Wall Feather Moss can be found around all of the local churchyards.

The overall species counts this June were St Francis Woolbrook 71, St Nicholas and St Giles Sidmouth 60, All Saints Sidmouth 53, St Giles Sidbury 45, and St Peter Sidford 42. St Mary and St Peter Salcombe Regis will be surveyed soon. It is likely that extra species will be added to the lists when the churchyards are revisited in different seasons. All of the records will be submitted to the national plant database held by the Biological Records Centre, but you can see the lists on the Biodiversity Group website and on the interactive map hosted by iNaturalist which is where the Biodiversity Group members archive their records.