Earlswood Explorers construct Eco habitat at Churchyard

For at least the last 10yrs the Explorer Scouts at 2nd Reigate have spent a summer’s evening working hard in the churchyard, clearing over-growth around the trees & cleaning the steps leading up to the Church West door.

This year we asked John if we could do something different.......

His answer “move an immense pile of dead branches, brambles and cuttings from near the east-gate to a spot in the churchyard near the southern edge to create an eco-habitat (dead hedge)” suitable for small wildlife including hedgehogs, mice & voles as part of St John’s continued “Eco Church” initiative.

Fourteen Explorers turned up on a blustery/showery evening as a necessary break from exam revision and set to work... actually, it was fun listening to them chatting to each other about how exams are going….no phones!

The first task was to remove overgrowth, bushes, trees from the chosen spot – unearthing long missing graves & memorials. Then they laid out a rough boundary for the area – being careful to avoid actual graves. Finally a significant portion of the very large pile of dead material including scratchy brambles(!) was gradually moved to the area to create the “habitat” which we all hope in time will encourage all sorts of wildlife to inhabit.

There is still some way to go with this project and of course all that “cut green material” now needs to die back &/or be taken to the Tip!

At the end of an evening’s hard work John laid on a much-appreciated BBQ…& ice creams!

Adrian Jackson