There are many reasons to choose a natural burial or ashes interment, but there can surely be few as satisfying as knowing that by doing so you’re protecting the environment and supporting local wildlife.

But how does a green funeral do that? With Garden Wildlife Week 2024 just around the corner, we’re going to outline four main ways in which Tithe Green Natural Burial supports wildlife in and around its burial sites at Ketton and Oxton.

Creating a diverse ecosystem

If you choose our woodland burial site as your final resting place, we’ll plant a tree on the same spot, to both mark the location and help the woodland to develop and grow. These trees attract a wide diversity of creatures, from birds, badgers and rodents to butterflies, bees and other pollinators.

You can find out more about the memorial trees you can choose – and the sort of wildlife they attract – by reading our earlier blog on the subject.

In the same way, we encourage wildflowers to grow and flourish in our meadow burial site. These are also popular with vital pollinators, but of different types to those that make their home in the woodland. 

What this means is that, together, the two sites attract creatures that work to maintain balance and growth in the ecosystem they inhabit.

Encouraging the growth of native species

We’ve all heard of the dangers of introducing invasive species that can materially affect the character of an environment. At an extreme level, this can mean whole areas being taken over and killing off native species, as in the case of Japanese knotweed, various species of crayfish and the grey squirrel.

When we add trees and wildflowers to our burial sites, we’re extremely careful to make sure that they are native to the UK so that they can support and nurture a habitat that is as natural as possible. This doesn’t just preserve the character of the local countryside, it also ensures that everything – including birds, insects and mammals – has the right food and shelter it needs to grow and thrive.

Ensuring a local green space for the future

Our burial sites are designed to be as natural as possible, with everything introduced being done so to ensure minimal environmental impact. That’s why we don’t have standing headstones, only discreet slate memorial plaques to mark burial and interment sites. Nor do we have concrete paths or other man-made additions that change the landscape.

That means that our sites offer more than just somewhere to remember a lost loved one – they are also intended to be peaceful and tranquil places where anyone can go to connect with nature and enjoy the unspoilt beauty of the English countryside for years into the future.

No non-biodegradable or toxic materials

Once you introduce unnatural materials to the environment, they can stay there for hundreds or even thousands of years. In the case of plastics and the chemicals used for embalming, that can eventually mean poisons seeping into the soil and local watercourses, which can have a devastating effect on the surrounding flora and fauna. 

That’s why we don’t allow bodies that have been embalmed and ask that if you leave flowers you remove any packaging first. Even hardwood coffins and their adornments – such as brass handles – can have a significant negative long-term impact on the areas in which they are buried. 

Leaving only safe materials in all areas of our sites is one of our most important rules to ensure all wildlife can live in a safe and protected environment.

Tithe Green Natural Burial has a great range of green funeral options at sites in Nottinghamshire and Rutland, making them easily accessible for those living in and around Nottingham, Leicester and Peterborough.

If you’d like to know more about what we can offer – or how our sites support the local environment and wildlife – please get in touch with us today.