This autumn has seen the implementation of a number of nature-based solutions to improve biodiversity and support the fight against climate change across our campus. By taking action to create resilient and complete ecosystems of plants, animals, and insects, we can support local wildlife, and harness the richness of nature to create areas for wellbeing and mindfulness.

National Tree Week

National Tree Week is the UK’s largest annual tree celebration with the conservation sector, volunteer groups tree-lovers country-wide coming together to plant thousands of trees at the start of the tree planting season. To support this worthy initiative, on 29 November Lancaster University’s Grounds Team invited children and colleagues from the Pre-School Centre to take part in a volunteer tree planting session. The planting took place in our campus ‘parkland’ areas and saw several native trees introduced to help provide a ‘wildlife corridor’ between existing woodland areas. These ‘corridors’ are areas of habitat that connect wildlife populations in areas that are often separated by human intervention and structures such as roads and buildings.

The Lancaster Grounds Team helped the children learn about different types of trees and the local wildlife that share our green spaces on campus with us. This was followed by a bulb planting session with Green Lancaster in the afternoon, where students and Green Lancaster members celebrated National Tree Week and helped to populate the campus with more seasonal bulbs. The day proved to be a great success, with more than 400 tree saplings and 5,000 bulbs planted across campus.

Find out more about National Tree Week.

Bulb planting

Our National Tree Week activities are just the latest part of our plans to enhance biodiversity across campus in 2023 and beyond. Having been provided with additional financial support, the University, spearheaded by the Facilities Grounds Team, has recently planted more than 82,000 new seasonal bulbs at the main University entrance. Not only will these bulbs create a beautiful welcome to the campus, but the flowering of these spring bulbs, which include a mix of crocus, daffodils, and tulips, will also help to support early pollinating insects, and further improve local biodiversity on campus.

Find out more about our biodiversity across campus.