Paddock Wood's Wildlife 'Treasure Island'.

The Old Churchyard Oasis

The old Churchyard and its primroses.

With a few days of warmth what better place to visit in Paddock Wood than…. the Old Churchyard ! There is a wonderful display of primroses (Primula vulgaris) to see at this time of the year, but my main interest was to see if the Slow worms  (Anguis fragilis) had survived the winter in good numbers.

The plaque on the old church wall.

For just over 60 years St Andrews Church stood here, until its downfall in November 1940, when a stray bomb jettisoned by a Luftwaffe pilot hit the church. St Andrews Church was rebuilt along Maidstone Road in 1955, but the churchyard remains and has become a home for a large population of slow worms. I suspect that historically the slow worms originated from the railway land, but as new houses were built they became cut off and now live in an island home in a sea of development. The old churchyard is now managed with nature in mind and if you know where to look you can find slow worms in this wildlife oasis.

So, after the excitement of the rookery this morning, in the late afternoon I popped down to the old Churchyard to see what I could find. Twelve months ago, on the 3^rd April 2015, I found 12 slow worms, but with warmer weather  today  (15c & overcast) my luck was in and I saw 69 animals; 29 of which were neonates i.e. young born last September.

A good selection of adult and young slow worms, seen today.

The slow worm population in the Old Churchyard is highly exceptional and I would not be surprised if the total population is in excess of 750 individual animals. It’s one of the town's wildlife hot spots and people are staggered when I tell them the number of animals likely to live in the churchyard. It must however be remembered that when ‘trapped’ in isolated sites, slow worm numbers can increase substantially. They have nowhere else to go and so provided food and shelter is available the population can sometimes grow exponentially.

Young & old close up.

Because of the importance of the site last year I wrote a management advice sheet for the PWTC estate staff, so that the Old Churchyard could be manged with greater emphasis on maintaining good conditions for the slow worm population. It should be remembered that the animals are legally protected against being killed or injured and so work must be carried out in a sensitive manner and at times of the year to ensure it is safe for the slow worms and yet still allow people to visit the gravesides of their relatives and loved ones.

One of the older gravestones.

I started this blog to emphasize the importance of understanding what wildlife we have in the town and without doubt this very small site is one of the town’s wildlife treasures, which the vast majority of people who pass it by, often on daily basis, never even realize they have on their doorstep :-).

A tangled mass of wildlife treasure unearthed.