Prestatyn pupils have planted a stronger future for a community wildflower habitat.

Ysgol Bodnant pupils joined the Council’s Biodiversity team to help enhance the meadow next to Bastion Gardens by planting nearly 4000 wildflowers on site.

Over 30 Year 2 pupils spent the afternoon with Council staff, adding the extra plants to the site and learning about the importance of safeguarding local nature for the future.

The Council’s Wildflower Meadows Project, funded by Welsh Government through the Local Places for Nature grant, started in 2019 and has seen over 10,000 individual plants recorded across all sites involved so far.

A programme of enhancement across county wildflower meadows has been carried out to support the creation of more colourful, and biodiverse areas for local nature and communities to enjoy.

This project is working to help address the UK loss of 97 percent of wildflower meadows, equalling near 7.5 million acres of habitats lost for important pollinators such as bees and butterflies.

Without this habitat, support for insects, nature’s pollinators would be less, impacting on our own food chain.

The soils of wildflower meadows can also sequester as much carbon as woodlands, reducing greenhouse gases to help tackle climate change.

Wildflower meadow areas provide benefits for everybody, not just nature, with other community benefits including improved air quality, helping to reduce urban flooding, providing urban heat cooling, physical and mental wellbeing and areas of mixed interest for education and play.

Councillor Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, and Biodiversity Champion, said: “It is important to note that these wildflower meadows are for everyone to enjoy and that they help to create connected corridors for nature across our urban areas such as this fantastic location in Prestatyn.

“We know lots of our schools follow this project and do get involved on their own sites in creating wonderful green areas.

"I’m really grateful to the Ysgol Bodnant pupils for lending their fantastic support for helping to grow this meadow into a great area for community well-being and local nature growth.

"These meadows are for the equal wellbeing of residents and wildlife to both enjoy now, and most importantly, for our future generations in the shape of our county pupils who are helping grow them.”