Yapton Church welcomes all creatures great and small with new bug hotel donation

You’ll find a warm welcome at St Mary the Virgin church in Yapton, West Sussex – whether you have two legs, six legs, eight legs or wings! The parish church, which last year achieved the Bronze certificate in the national Eco Church scheme, is delighted to welcome more bugs and bees into the fold thanks to the donation of five bug hotels by developer Barratt Redrow Southern Counties.

The bug hotels, a construction of natural materials designed to encourage a variety of insects to move in, were donated by David Wilson Homes, part of the Barratt Redrow Group, which has a development of new homes at Ryebank Gate in Yapton, just a few minutes away.

Bug hotels are a proven way of improving biodiversity1, especially by encouraging pollinating insects such as solitary bees that love to rest in hollow bamboo stems that are included in the structure. Other insects, such as ladybirds and lacewings, find cosy hibernation spots among the bug hotel’s drilled logs, bark and pinecones.

The congregation at St Mary’s is already dedicated to looking after wildlife and after celebrating the Bronze Eco Church award, members have already begun working towards the Silver level. This includes measures to increase biodiversity in the churchyard with more pollinating plants and bird boxes – so the new bug hotels are finding a welcome home there.

Phil Hurring, Marketing Manager at Barratt Redrow Southern Counties, said: “Encouraging wildlife to thrive is a vital part of what we do – working closely with the RSPB over a number of years to ensure that building great new homes for people doesn’t mean destroying the homes of wildlife. We wanted to encourage the local community to have the same love of nature that we do, and providing these bug hotels is just one small way to help.”

Rector at the church, the Rev Richard Hayes, said: “Yapton St Mary’s Eco Church team is committed to caring for God’s creation, understanding that even small actions can have a meaningful impact. Alongside joining with local groups like the Yapton Eco Group for initiatives including recycling and litter picking, we are dedicated to making our churchyard a haven for wildlife. With this in mind, we are grateful for David Wilson Homes’ donation of a bug hotel to help us encourage biodiversity.”