Young Friends of Castle Meadows, recruited from Year 5 at Cantref School, have returned to the meadows to carry out a litter pick and to identify and (literally) highlight the issue of dog fouling across the site.

Dog fouling is a real concern, with increasing numbers of school visits planned as well as the family leisure use of the location that the Friends of Castle Meadows are trying to promote.?The children impressed staff and volunteers by being able to distinguish between the organic nature of the cow pats from the cattle’s historically agreed, half-year round graze on the meadows, and the dangerous parasites to be found in uncollected dog poo.

In less than 45 minutes more than 200 deposits of the latter were located and identified by means of a chalk-based red spray marker, and local Young Friends will be working on a project to encourage the responsible use of the location by dog owners.?

On a more fun note, the pupils played a concluding game where they had to identify and place on a time-line how long it would take for items such as chewing gum, drinks cans, plastic and glass bottles etc to bio-degrade.

Again, the Young Friends demonstrated a genuine knowledge of the topic and an awareness of the importance of responsible disposal and the recycling message that goes with it.?