ANNA Ryder Richardson took time out from her zoo on Monday morning to present a batch of well deserved certificates.

A group of people with long term disabilities recently achieved stage one of their John Muir award and attended a presentation at the Old Store in Lower Puncheston.

John Muir was an American naturalist and campaigner who died in 1914. His passion was the conservation of wild places and his legacy the establishment world wide of natural parks.

Under the leadership of Jack Woods from the community interest company Value Independence and Marten Lewis from the Darwin Trust, the group explored various sites in the Pembrokeshire countryside, rivers and on the coast.

They carried out some practical work on habitats and planned how best to protect plants and wildlife.

Speaking after the presentation, Anna said: “It was an absolute privilege to award the certificates.

“The whole group is very keen to do the next stage of the John Muir award and Martin from the Darwin Centre said if I’m really good, I can join them.

“They were all really nervous today having to talk about what they had done for the award, but you could see their eyes light up.

"They’ve all learned so much and have taught me so much. Before I couldn't tell the different between a male and female crab!”