Over the past couple of months, I’ve been trying to a bit of my own “creation care”, not just what we have been doing at church. I am an assistant leader at Priory Methodist Church Rainbows and currently I am helping the girls (aged 4 to 7 years) to gain their “Feel Good in Nature” badge being run by Girlguiding Anglia in partnership with the RSPB. So far, we have done a litter pick in Bedford Park, made a “kindness tree” – writing acts of kindness we see or do on paper leaves and have created a tree on our display board and a “looking at nature through the wings of a butterfly” craft. Other things I am doing with the Rainbows is taking them on a walk to Priory Marina to make sensory nature sticks and to see what birds they can spy, as well as “forest bathing” at Russell Park.
Whilst I was helping tidy our new curate’s garden, I noticed for the first time what appeared to be a breeding site for scarlet tiger moths – never seen them before. When they opened up their wings, you could see brilliants shades of red. So what we thought was an area that needed weeding, ended up being left. Also this week, I noted I had a visitor back in my garden – a hedgehog. Dave and I put up a hedgehog house under a bush last year and we got 2 hedgehogs, one with only 3 legs. With the harsh winter, we weren’t sure any would survive, but the one we have now is quite big and loves sliding under our fence into the neighbour’s garden and chomping at the kitten food we put out for it, along with a saucer of water.
This afternoon, I went to our local Trefoil Guild meeting to listen to a talk by Colin Last, church warden and eco-officer for St Mary’s Goldington. He mentioned that they were taking part in “God’s Acre – Churches Count on Nature” by doing a survey of their burial ground. My friend and I decided we would go along and help – we spent a very pleasant 75 minutes, identifying wild flowers and grasses, trees, birds and a couple of insects. I also chatted about the swift boxes that had been put up at St Andrew’s as they also had put up a couple – like us, they are hoping for some guests but none have arrived yet despite seeing them flying around the church tower. To find out more about caring fo God’s Acre go to https://www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk/
I have a small garden, but things are starting to show. The potatoes appear to have shot up in their pots over the last couple of weeks, and I can see things sprouting in my vegetable trug although some of the beans don’t appear to want to show their heads. My herb bags are doing well and my wild flower patch is in its second year with corn flowers now starting to show. Due to the lack of rain, unfortunately my 2 water butts are a bit dry so having to use water from my outside tap but I am trying to restrict how often I water.
Oh and by the way, I have planted my pumpkin seed – don’t know what sort of result I will get, but you can find out at St Andrew’s Green Fair being held on Saturday 28th October 2023. Why don’t you give it a go too? Seeds available from the back of church.
Julia Routledge
