Trees and Bees

Plant and Pollinator Policy

Our Plant and Pollinator Policy (PDF, 174KB) aims to enforce the importance of biodiversity on campus for students, staff and the wider public that provides significant social, wellbeing, capital, economic returns, wildlife and environmental benefits. The policy contains ambitious targets including: 

• 100% of our trees to be native or of evidenced value for British wildlife
• Multi-species hedges, minimum 30m in length and pruned with a large base and a layer of growth to allow for hedgehogs and similar animals to shelter and forage
• 5 – 7 cm min mowing height for lawns with a minimum of 20 flowering species

This policy draws upon student research done on our campus, as part of their studies, to improve our biodiversity practices.

Initiatives

We do a range of biodiversity projects and engagement to ensure that the importance of nature and wildlife is embedded into life at the University.

Examples including:

• Tree planting is a continuous activity within our grounds, including with local schools and university students, and even with academics to offset the carbon footprint of their research.
• Increasing the number of bird boxes on our campuses to enhance bird populations at our sites; such as Blackthorn Manor where students have added five semi-mature fruit trees (Cherry and Rowan), eleven bird boxes and several bird feeders. We also have swift boxes and a peregrine nest on several buildings on the main campus.
• Tapestry lawns are currently being developed across campus to produce up to 90% more flowers, contain over 25% more invertebrate life and support up to ten times as many visits from twice as many pollinator species. They also absorb rainfall twice as fast as a turf lawn, which will be increasingly more important as our climate changes.

Hedgehog Friendly Campus Accreditation

We're pleased to announce that we achieved the Bronze Hedgehog Friendly Campus Accreditation. The Hedgehog Friendly Campus is a UK-wide university accreditation scheme funded through the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. A team of staff and students worked together to ensure our campus is hedgehog-friendly and raise awareness about the importance of conserving these little creatures. The team is now working towards the silver and gold accreditation.