"GOD's creatures" are to be preserved in Worcestershire thanks to a joint project between the diocese and the county council.

Simple weeding and the age-old weekly mow will be sidelined by new conservation methods designed to salvage rare plants and encourage animals and birds to take up residence in churchyards.

Worcestershire's Living Churchyards - backed by Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and the Council for the Protection of Rural England - has been launched to promote and manage burial plots to benefit nature conservation.

Guests at the launch, at the Old Palace in Deansway, included the Bishop of Worcester, the Rt Rev Dr Peter Selby, county council countryside manager Ian Bamforth and a host of churchyard managers.

Representatives from the Countryside Service outlined the programme of work and workshops that will take place over the coming year, as well as the volunteering opportunities that were likely to emerge.

"Wildflower-rich grasslands have disappeared dramatically over the past 50 years, largely due to agricultural intensification," said Adrian Roper, the county council's Countryside Projects Officer. "But churchyards act as remnants of valuable grassland.

"Having never been enriched by fertilisers, they're an important sanctuary for plants and animals rarely seen today.

"What we want managers to do is concentrate on the grassland and manage it almost like a traditional hay meadow - leaving the grass and wild flowers to mature until July before cutting it, and then perhaps cutting it once more later in the year."

He said the project would also advise churchyard managers on a range of other habitats found in the churchyard such as walls, headstones and trees.

The Rev Canon John Willis, agricultural chaplain for Worcester Diocese, added: "Churches and churchyards have provided a haven for God's creations for centuries.

"This latest project allows the churches to maintain a careful stewardship of the natural gifts entrusted to us by God."