As part of the Croft Gardens have been allowed to grow into a meadow, Tenby officials have received training to carry out plant surveys to encourage biodiversity.

On Friday, May 26, Rachel Carter, Local Places for Nature Officer, met with Anne Draper, Tenby Town Council Community Engagement Officer, and Emma Lewis, Tenby Town Councillor, so she could train then in doing a plant survey to see how much biodiversity there is in the parks around Tenby. This will enable a base line to be set, so that it is possible to see if there is an increase in biodiversity as gardening maintenance practices are changed to encourage this to happen.

Everyone was pleased to see that the upper part of Croft Gardens had been allowed to grow and was a perfect place to practising surveying the plant life. It was surprising what was possible with good identification charts even without much prior knowledge. It is now hoped to redo this survey here and in other parks around Tenby every month to check progress towards increased biodiversity.

If there are any volunteers out there, Anne and Emma would be happy to pass on their new found knowledge, and the Town Council has identification charts to use, so please get in touch on [email protected] if you are interested. You could pick a spot near you or do a few places.

The upper Croft garden was surprisingly biodiverse, and it is hoped to encourage this in other areas. While they need to be kept tidy and useful for locals and tourists, it is possible to allow more wildflowers to grow as part of their lawns.

A group of volunteers from the Tenby Project is going to be spending Tuesdays working on the gardens and the park benches. The volunteers will rake the lawns so that the cuttings do not fertilise the lawns which encourages the grass, but put the cuttings in a pile, which will give more opportunity for the wild plants already in the soil to come through. The pile of cuttings will also be a potential habitat for wildlife.