A Penparcau wildlife group’s ‘grand idea’ has landed them a £1,000 cash award.

An innovative programme of walks which will combine education about biodiversity

with a leisurely stroll has won Penparcau Wildlife Group a prestigious Ti Bia’r Biosffer award and cash prize of £1,000.

Ti Bia’r Biosffer is a competition launched last autumn by Menter a Busnes.

It was set up as part of the Biosffer Dyfi Biosphere initiative project to encourage groups, organisations and businesses to submit projects that will celebrate and showcase the principles of the Biosphere.

Congratulating Penparcau Wildlife Group on their award, Sian Tandy of Menter a Busnes said: “In simple terms this project is all about encouraging residents and visitors of all ages to engage with nature in a way that celebrates local biodiversity and makes a positive contribution to protecting the natural environment.

“Penparcau Wildlife Group, which is hosted by the Penparcau Community Forum, includes volunteers representing a diverse range of backgrounds and with different skills, are very worthy winners.” The group’s 2022 programme, which is already underway, includes a number of wheelchair-friendly walks, bird-watching trips and ‘mermaid’s purse’ hunts. Mermaid’s purses are tough, leathery pouches, usually found on the shoreline, which protect shark or skate embryos.

Project Lead, Chloe Griffiths, who accepted the £1,000 award on behalf of the members, said: “Our grand idea is to actively encourage people to not only join in our activities, which will all be free, but to also keep their own records of wildlife from their own gardens and neighbourhoods within the Dyfi Biosphere area. “We are delighted to accept this award, and the £1,000 will help us ensure that a new generation of nature-lovers will have the skills to recognise, record and protect the wildlife and environmental wonders which surround them.”