Bionet Awards Winners 2023

The Bionet Awards aim celebrate the work being undertaken by local people, communities, organisations and businesses in North East Wales to conserve, protect and enhance biodiversity.

Bionet believes it is important to celebrate successes achieved for biodiversity. In the face of the ecological emergency, a lot of the news we hear has a negative narrative but there are lots of people making a positive impact through local actions.

The awards were split into 8 categories to demonstrate how various actions can achieve a positive biodiversity impact within multiple different sectors.

We would like to say a huge congratulations to the following winners:

For our Community Group winners, we received some fantastic applications. The Community Group Award was presented to the The Chirk Swifts & House Martins Group!

This group, led by concerned local Hayley Garrod, have been doing some amazing work to protect swifts and house martins in Northeast Wales. Since the group began in 2021, they have created 130 nesting spaces for swifts and house martins through installing boxes and nest cups throughout Chirk. They are also actively involved in surveying the local area for nests – including the colony at Chirk Aqueduct, as well as rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing chicks that jump from the nest too early. In addition to these activities, they have also attended multiple events and started a Facebook group now with over 500 members to raise awareness of the birds’ struggles. This is a great example of the fantastic impact people can have on biodiversity in their local area.

Congratulations on the award to all involved in the Chirk Swifts & House Martins, we cannot wait to hear about all the future work planned.

Our High School Award has been dedicated to the fantastic students and faculty at Prestatyn High school!

This award has been highly deserved thanks to their dedication to nature by planting a double hedge on the school field with hundreds of saplings as well as fruit trees. The school has also created several mini-ponds, a dead hedge for insects and maintained ‘no mow’ areas that has had wildflower seed and turf put on to encourage wildflower growth. The school also has invested in beehives, bug hotels and bird boxes to attract wildlife and provide a habitat for them.
Well done on all the work dedicated by all the fantastic students and staff. We look forward to seeing your site flourish.

We wanted to highlight the fantastic work committed by our local Communities and Town Councils, on how they have improved the local spaces for all to enjoy. We are delighted to award the Bionet Town & Community Council Award Winner to Gwersyllt Community Council.

Gwersyllt Community Council, working with Wrexham County Council, planted over 2000 native broadleaved trees to create a community woodland. GCC are also working with the 3rd sector organisations to deliver a series of GI improvements from fruit orchards and wildflower meadows to create a vibrant, biodiverse environment for people and wildlife to enjoy.

Congratulations to all involved in Gwersyllt Community Council on the fantastic work committed!