A Pembrokeshire tourist resort has seen a small annual project turn into a nationwide event, after many holidaymakers got involved during their staycation holiday to the county last summer.

Each year, Bluestone Resort near Narberth has had approximately 50 bird boxes built by pupils at Portfield School in Haverfordwest, which are then placed around the 500-acre resort.

However, 2021 proved very busy for the resort, and hundreds of families and young people got involved, assembling bird boxes before taking them home to help build bird houses in their own area.

Marten Lewis, head of corporate responsibility at Bluestone, said: “Each year the pupils from Portfield come to see the range of work we’re doing to support and encourage nature and biodiversity. The bird box building has been a part of that each time.

“In recent times our gardens and parks have become too tidy, with many of the scruffy bushes, nooks and crannies in old trees and walls disappearing, leaving birds with fewer places to nest. Bird boxes play an important part in giving our wild birds a helping hand.

“But this year one of our employees, Matt Badger, wanted to help scale up the project and ended up cutting the wood for nearly 400 wooden bird boxes. These were then assembled by hundreds of young people and their families while staying at Bluestone before being taken home to all parts of the UK to help birds and nature in their own communities.”

The materials for the bird boxes were sourced from UK-grown sustainable woodlands with FSC accreditation. They were cut by Matt, a facilities compliance co-ordinator and carpenter, supported by park ranger Rob Mackeen.

Matt said: “We wanted to show young people how easy it is to help nurture nature. Many people who come to Bluestone do because of the abundance of biodiversity, from the woods to the meadow and lake.

“They get hands on with a range of activities but assembling the bird boxes and taking them home ensures they continue their journey of understanding nature, as well as the memories they have from here.”