Acoustic monitoring in English churchyards to understand, record, and protect their extraordinary wildlife.
Project mission
Churchyards are some of the most biodiverse habitats left in the British landscape. Their combination of ancient grassland, veteran trees, stone walls, mature hedgerows, and centuries of low-intensity management has produced microhabitats that have largely disappeared from the wider countryside.
Many hold species — plants, insects, birds, and bats — found nowhere else in their parish. Yet almost none have been systematically surveyed for wildlife, and few have evidence-based management plans.
The Wild Churchyard Project aims to change that by making acoustic monitoring accessible and meaningful for churches, PCCs, and the volunteers who care for these spaces.
How the project works
Step 1
A PCC or verger contacts Wild Systems Lab to express interest. We discuss the site, agree on a placement, and handle any permissions or faculty considerations.
Step 2
Wild Systems Lab installs a Demeter unit in the churchyard, typically on a post or discrete bracket. The installation takes about an hour and leaves no permanent marks.
Step 3
Demeter records continuously for 6–12 weeks, capturing dawn chorus, dusk bat activity, and overnight soundscapes. The church does not need to do anything.
Step 4
Wild Systems Lab retrieves the recorder and analyses the recordings. Each participating church receives a report listing species detected, activity patterns, and habitat observations.
Participating sites
Sites where Demeter recorders have been or are currently deployed as part of the Wild Churchyard Project.
8-week deployment, summer 2024. 23 bird species, 5 bat species. Notable: swift colony, brown long-eared bat foraging activity.
6-week deployment, autumn 2024. 19 bird species, 3 bat species. Recorded significant redwing and fieldfare passage in October.
Currently deployed, spring/summer 2025. Preliminary data shows strong dawn chorus with possible spotted flycatcher.
Currently deployed, summer 2025. Urban churchyard site for comparison with rural baseline data.
Deployment scheduled for August 2025. Walled town churchyard with significant ancient yew population.
Deployment scheduled for September 2025. Riverside location adjacent to meadow — high bat activity expected.
Findings
Key findings from two years of Wild Churchyard Project monitoring.
Across 12 sites, including 11 species of conservation concern and 3 Red List species.
Including brown long-eared, Daubenton's, and noctule bats — all dependent on mature trees found in churchyards.
Where comparison sites were available, bat activity in churchyards was on average three times higher than in adjacent arable or improved grassland.
Get involved
If you look after a churchyard and would like to know what wildlife it supports, we would like to hear from you.
Participation is free for churches in our current project area. We handle installation, analysis, and write up — the church receives a full report at the end of the deployment.
We are also interested in hearing from churches outside our current area, and from individuals or organisations who would like to sponsor a monitoring deployment at a church in their area.