Torfaen County Borough Council is urging residents to support No Mow May.

It is part of the council's 10-year-old sustainable grassland management scheme and aims to boost biodiversity and battle climate change.

Another part of this campaign is the Let It Grow initiative, encouraging residents to let their gardens grow unimpeded until October.

The council's focus recently has been on quantifying the effects of such programmes on butterfly populations.

Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen Local Nature Partnership co-ordinator, Veronika Brannovic said: "We now have 200 areas across Torfaen that are being managed sustainably and we know they are having a positive impact on local insect populations.

Some research indicates that letting grass grow can boost butterfly numbers by as much as 93 per cent.

Executive member for the environment, Councillor Mandy Owen, said: "Allowing wildflowers in lawns to grow over the summer is great for pollinators, other wildlife and it increases plant diversity, which helps to remove carbon from the atmosphere – a key part of reducing climate change."