QUIN Village Tidy Towns has joined the ‘Return to Nature Church Project’ aiming to bring nature and biodiversity back to the beautiful grounds of St.Mary’s Church in Quin.
The ‘Return to Nature Church Project’ is a natonal enviornmental initiative to return 30% of church grounds in Ireland to nature by 2030.
This project is a response to the global biodiversity crisis. The call of Laudato Si’ and the agreements made at the recent UN Conference on Biodiversity (COP15). All are called to arrest the decline of biodiversity for the sake of the next generation.
Quin Village Tidy Town volunteers Fr. Tom Ryan & Fr. Rock, recently met with ecologist Karina Dingergus to explore ways to implement positive changes into the grounds of St. Mary’s Church.
The community organisation is working on a Biodiversity Action Plan with a number of project options to help achieve their goal.
Some possible projects put forward by the action plan are, nest boxes for birds like swifts, barn owls, robins, and spotted flycatchers, bat roost boxes and bird boxes placed in mature trees, planting native apple trees that support pollinators, leaving a patch of grass unmown to let wildflowers bloom and feed bees and butterflies and putting up biodiversity-friendly signage to help share the project with visitors
A representative from Quin Village Tidy Towns said; “The aim is to create a pollinator space where wildlife can thrive, right in the heart of our village—supporting pollinators, birds, bats, and wildflowers for years to come”.
