St James The Great

​Old Milverton, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

​Geoff's Eco Tips

​Geoff’s Eco-Tip for April:

Here’s this month’s Eco tip provided by A Rocha UK’s Easy Eco Tips 2026 Calendar. Easy Eco Tips 2026 Calendar - A Rocha UK

Celebrate new life this Easter and have a go at growing something! April is the perfect time to try to grow something edible or, if you are a seasoned gardener, to encourage someone else to try. Salad leaves or herbs are a great place to start and will reduce your reliance on those oh-so convenient supermarket salad bags.

For indoor space, try ‘micro-greens’ (vegetable leaves harvested soon after they open) For greenhouses, try sowing salad leaf seed mixes.

For outdoors, beetroot, lettuce, onion and pea plants are frost-resistant so can all be planted outside in April.

As you sow, thank God for the opportunity to grow food, and pray for those communities that are facing food shortages and famine.

For more practical ways to enjoy, nurture and defend nature, sign up to A Rocha UK’s Wild Christian email: arocha.org.uk/wild-christian

Churchyard Biodiversity & Heritage Project - ST JAMES UPDATE APRIL 2026. As Sue has mentioned earlier in the update, the Diocesan Biodiversity Team will be coming along to our Dog Walker’s Café on Saturday 25th April, where you will be able to ask questions generally about the project as well as join in with the Warwickshire City Nature Challenge.

As well as this, they are planning a ‘Moth Breakfast’ on Saturday 9th May and a ‘Bioblitz’ on Sunday 14th June which will be included into ‘Muddy Church’, which is taking place that afternoon.

The ‘Moth Breakfast’ involves examining traps set out the previous evening. Hopefully we can look at and identify a variety of Moths that live in the churchyard over breakfast – don’t worry I am sure they will be released back into the wild without harm!

‘Bioblitz’ involves the team trying to identify as many different species as possible across, grasses, insects, flowers, mammals etc! They describe it as ‘an opportunity to get a bit nerdy about nature’. As well as the families who come along for Muddy church, everyone is encouraged to drop in over a few hours staying as long or not as they like. Everyone is welcomed and encouraged to come along to these ‘free’ and ‘all age’ events.

Finally, there is a Community Consultation Questionnaire, and it would be really appreciated if as many as possible could complete this with their views. It only has 5 simple questions and so is very quick to complete! The survey can be completed online by scanning the QR code below (also on posters in the churchyard noticeboards) or you can complete the form attached to this update and either email it as instructed or leave a hard copy in church, which I can collect and forward on.

With love, Geoff  ​​​​​