The Grounds Team have done a fantastic job in creating a new wildlife corridor that links Lake Carter to a newly planted native hedgerow and to the wider campus landscape.

The team from the Facilities Division of the University, have also planted around 1000 native woodland trees and shrubs adjacent to Health Innovation One as part of the University’s wider strategic plans for ecology and woodland management.

The trees were donated to the University via the I Dig Trees initiative, run in partnership with OVO Energy. Amongst the donation were a mix of Hazel, Holly and Rowan, ideal for enhancing the understorey in parts of the existing woodlands.

Ian Sturzaker, Landscape Manager - Facilities Division said, ‘The [grounds] team have been focused on maintaining the high standards of the campus grounds during the COVID-19 pandemic. However with staff and student numbers drastically reduced, this has given us the opportunity to make some really positive improvements.

Ensuring that the campus estate offers as much habitat potential for wildlife as possible is very much a priority for us and is the main element our Ecology Plan 2019-24 identifies the importance of this. Our campus is home to some very interesting wildlife and it’s important that we provide a healthy, well-maintained habitat for wildlife and people to coexist.’

The project follows the planting of a mix of 2,000 deciduous broadleaf trees and shrubs in November 2020. The Scheme was delivered as part of a biodiversity net-gain programme associated with the development of the new Sports Hall and part of the University’s Sustainability Strategy to off-set carbon emissions.

Since then, the Team have also undertaken works to tidy and improve access points on campus, using the excess materials and foliage to create nature piles within adjacent areas of woodland. These piles will hopefully become rich in insects, providing the ideal nesting sites for birds or hedgehogs.

Earlier this year the University were promoted from Bronze to the Silver Award for Hedgehog Friendly Campus. A standard for which the Grounds Team have been driving improvements aimed to make the environment on campus safer for hedgehogs.

More information about the Facilities Ecology Plan and current projects can be found online at lancaster.ac.uk/facilities.