The winners of the 2025 Tidy Towns Local Authority Pollinator Award have been announced.
The Pollinator Award has run since 2016 as a Special Award in the annual Supervalu Tidy Towns awards. It is administrated by the local authority Heritage and Biodiversity Officer network and the National Biodiversity Data Centre.
The aim of the award is to encourage and reward pollinator-friendly actions by Tidy Towns groups in line with the recommendations of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. Each winner is awarded a prize of €1,000.
With an overall winner, award for best newcomers, and two winners per region, there are plenty of opportunities for success in this award.
Overall winner for 2025: Baile Slachtmhar Bhéal an Mhuirthead/ Belmullet Tidy Towns, Co. Mayo
Belmullet Tidy Towns in Mayo are the winners of this year’s Pollinator Award. For years they have worked tirelessly with other local groups, businesses, landowners and the local authority to protect the Great Yellow Bumblebee, a rare pollinator now only found on the west coast.
Their work includes developing meadows to encourage native wildflower growth, working with a contractor to manage long-flowering meadows with one cut and lift a year, as well as many areas of short-flowering meadows, such as Achadh Mara pictured below. This May, an astonishing 690 Marsh orchids appeared as a result of this hard work. They have also eliminated pesticides, using several alternative methods to remove unwanted plants where necessary, and are planning a publicity campaign to promote pesticide alternatives.
The work of Belmullet Tidy Towns is underpinned by a deep understanding of their unique local habitats, underpinned by close observation and a collaborative approach to work. They are the well-deserved winners of the 2025 Pollinator Award – a model example of what is possible in communities.
Best Newcomer: Inagh Tidy Towns, Co. Clare
Inagh Tidy Towns are the winners of the ‘Best Newcomer’ award 2025, which is given to a Tidy Towns group who has never entered the Pollinator Award before. Much of their work began as a result of taking part in Returning to Nature – an initiative of the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference which aims to return 30% of all church grounds to nature by 2030. With the encouragement of Clare County Council’s Biodiversity Officer, they reduced mowing in the church grounds and were delighted by the appearance of Ox-eye daisies, Marsh orchids and Common spotted orchids.
Thanks to Community Foundation for Ireland funding they worked with an ecologist to develop a tailored biodiversity action plan based on the unique mix of species and habitats in the area. Their work covers all areas of the community including the church, playground, sensory garden and GAA Club and has included planting pollinator-friendly trees (pictured), hedgerows, perennials and annuals.
Congratulations to Inagh Tidy Towns, we can’t wait to see what happens next!
Regional Pollinator Award winners
Congratulations to all eight winners of the regional awards. Each of these applications was excellent and demonstrated a huge range of actions for biodiversity. Here are all the winners, and the highlights of their work.
Midlands & East
Large Town: Balbriggan Tidy Towns, Co. Dublin
Balbriggan Tidy Towns are winners of the Large Town Midlands & East award for 2025, a category that always attracts stiff competition. Highlights of their work include expanding their area of flowering orchard and encouraging others in the community to create meadows including the local Garda station. In collaborating with the Fingal Biodiversity Officer and Hedgerows Ireland they run a hedge-laying demonstration, and have planted thousands of pollinator-friendly bulbs providing a food source for pollinators early in the year.
Small Town: Crinkill Tidy Villages, Co. Offaly
Crinkill Tidy Villages are the winners of the Small Town award for the Midlands & East. Following detailed advice from the Offaly County Council Heritage and Biodiversity Officers, they have taken steps to protect valuable native plants like Ivy and create nesting habitats for wild bees. A ‘bee cairn’ has been built in Soldiers Garden, providing nesting habitat for cavity-nesting bees, and a new orchard offers spring blossom for pollinators and future opportunities to engage the community through fruit harvesting and seasonal events.
South East
Large Town:There were no entries in this category this year. We strongly encourage any Tidy Towns groups in this category to apply in 2026.
Small Town: Ardmore Tidy Towns, Co. Waterford
Ardmore Tidy Towns in Co. Waterford are the winners of the Small Town Award for the South East. Their work includes harvesting local wildflower seeds to help expand their meadows, filling community window boxes with pollinator-friendly plants, protecting areas beneath hedgerows for bumblebee nesting habitat, and installing educational bee posts for cavity-nesting bees. Perhaps one of their most impressive activities has been working with local intensive tillage farmers to encourage organic practices. As a result of this work, all three farmers engaged with have agreed to trial an organic ‘patch’ on their farms and have grown wildlife meadows in the vicinity of the village.
South & Mid West
Large Town: There were no entries in this category this year. We strongly encourage any Tidy Towns groups in this category to apply in 2026.
Small Town: Castlegregory Tidy Towns, Co. Kerry
Castlegregory Tidy Towns are the winners of the Small Town Award, South & Mid West. They care for the many areas of pollinator-friendly habitat in their town with extraordinary detail, conscious of the unique value of every one. The group has been busy developing their excellent work over the past year, expanding areas of long-flowering meadow, adding new pollinator-friendly perennials, and leading the community in eliminating pesticides. A survey of the community conducted in the summer revealed that planting and biodiversity actions are the most appreciated of the group’s activities. We’re delighted that Castlegregory are getting well-deserved recognition for their ongoing hard work.
North West & West:
Large Town: Cavan Tidy Towns, Co. Cavan
Cavan Tidy Towns are the winners of the Large Town award, North West & West for 2025. Leading by example, they have encouraged various housing estates around the town to reduce mowing and celebrate native wildflowers like Dandelions. They have added a new native trees and hedgerow plants to the Fairgreen Community Garden, including nectar-rich native species like Hawthorn and Blackthorn. Working with the Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board, they ran a Pollinator Awareness Day in the community garden, featuring hands-on activities, presentations, and a pollinator-friendly hanging basket workshop.
Small Town: Baile Slachtmhar Bhéal an Mhuirthead / Belmullet Tidy Towns
Belmullet are winners in this category and the overall winners of the Pollinator Award in 2025. For an overview of their work, see the summary at the top of this page.
Highly Commended Towns
The quality of applications this year was so high in 2025 that ten further Tidy Towns were highly commended for their work for pollinators. These towns are:
Athboy Tidy Towns
Ballymun Tidy Towns
Birr Tidy Towns
Dalkey Tidy Towns
Raheny Tidy Village Group
Killeshandra Tidy Towns
Kilsheelan Tidy Towns
Leighlinbridge Improvement Group
Tullahought Tidy Towns
Sneem Tidy Towns
Congratulations to all winners and highly commended groups!
Kate Chandler, Communities & Engagement Pollinator Officer at the National Biodiversity Data Centre said:
“The quality of the Tidy Towns Pollinator Award applications this year was outstanding. It is always one of the highlights of our year to read through the entries and learn about the fantastic work taking place across the country to help our struggling wild pollinators. The standard of applications was so high, ten towns were ‘highly commended’ in addition to the winners.
We were delighted to see more native wildflowers appearing than ever (in the case of Belmullet, the winning town, an astonishing 690 orchids!) Elsewhere, native hedgerows and trees are blooming and orchards are growing. Planters are blooming with beautiful nectar and pollen-rich flowers, and more towns than ever are reducing and eliminating pesticides and celebrating important native plants like Dandelions.
The winning and highly commended groups not only demonstrate fantastic leadership, but they have shown how these activities can bring people together. From community tree planting days to seed swaps and summer events, these groups are a shining example of how we can all make our communities better places for pollinators and people.
Pollinator numbers are in decline, but local populations are increasing where actions are being taken to help them. This gives us hope – the hard work of Tidy Towns groups can help reverse pollinators decline. Congratulations to all the winners and highly commended groups and a huge thank you to everyone who applied – from us and the bees!”
On behalf of the Local Authority Pollinator Award committee, we thank the Tidy Towns Unit for the opportunity to administrate this special award alongside the Heritage and Biodiversity Officer network. We look forward to supporting the work of communities in the future and would like to congratulate and thank all the winners and applicants for their great work for pollinators.
If you are interested in helping pollinators in your community, take a look at the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan guidelines for community groups. This free document includes evidence-based actions for pollinators to suit every community.
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