Melcombe and Wyke Cemeteries in Weymouth officially 'Living Churchyards'

Last week, Melcombe and Wyke cemeteries had a walkover survey and management visit from the Dorset Wildlife Trust as part of the ‘Living Churchyards’ project.

Whilst not a complete species list, the walkover results showed 22 flower species in Wyke - with the most notable being hedge cranesbill.

And according to Weymouth Town Council, Melcombe Cemetery, which is a Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI), was considerably richer with 36 species.

These include orchids, dropwort and corky fruited water dropwort - all of which are Dorset notables.

It comes amid recent concerns about the 'overgrown' state of Melcombe Regis Cemetery - including comments from a visiting pensioner who said he was 'appalled' by long grass making it difficult to see his parents' headstones.

However the council says that cemeteries are in fact valuable areas for 'semi-natural grassland' and species-rich habitats.

"What many people think of as weeds are in fact valuable flowering plants providing food and habitats for many other species," a spokesman said.

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"The long meadow grasses also house floral plants such as ox-eye daisy, common poppy and yellow rattle grow, giving the effect of a hay meadow.

"In other cases, the grass may be much shorter allowing bird's-foot trefoil or orchids to grow. This makes carefully managed churchyards and cemeteries so important."

Cowslips at Melcombe Cemetery Picture: Weymouth Town Council

Many cemeteries throughout Britain have now been designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest by English Nature - including Melcombe.

Meanwhile Wyke Cemetery is now in the process of being cut - which, the council says, is a slow and arduous process as grass cutting teams must remove all the trimmings by hand.

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Melcombe Cemetery will also be cut during the next month as flowers will have either ripened or 'gone over.'

The removal of grass cuttings will decrease the rate the grass grows and, in turn, reduce the council’s impact on the climate as the authority will no longer need to undertake six to seven grass cuts a year.

Councillor Ryan Hope, chairman of the town council's Services Committee, said: “The drive behind this change is to improve wildlife habitats in Weymouth.

"This becomes increasingly important in the context of the ongoing biodiversity decline in the UK, in which 41 per cent species are declining and one in ten is threatened with extinction.

"We have learnt from this year and will be making changes in our management next year to ensure we manage the areas for people and nature alike."