Biodiversity
Biodiversity is vital to the lives and social and economic development of present and future generations.
What is biodiversity?
Biodiversity is the:
variability among living organisms and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems
(Convention of Biological Diversity)
It's a tremendously important global asset. It sustains life and is vital to economic and social development, both now and in the future.
What the University is doing
As part of our commitment to environmental sustainability, we are dedicated to preserving and enhancing biodiversity. We have developed a Biodiversity Policy (PDF: 210KB) and an action plan for the University's UK campus.
Newcastle University is officially a Silver Hedgehog Friendly Campus!
After joining the campaign in 2019, Newcastle University achieved the Silver Hedgehog Friendly Campus accreditation in January 2022.
What is Hedgehog Friendly Campus?
Newcastle University have joined Hedgehog Friendly Campus, which is an innovative campaign funded by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. Our first actions towards making Newcastle University a Hedgehog Friendly Campus were in November 2019, and we hope to raise awareness about hedgehog conservation while making our campus safe for hedgehogs.
Hedgehog Friendly Campus have created a short video with some more information on the campaign.
Why do we need to protect hedgehogs?
Sadly, hedgehogs were recently listed as a species ‘vulnerable to extinction’ on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List for British Mammals. Their population numbers have declined by as much as 50% in rural areas, and 30% in urban areas since the year 2000. Some of the contributing factors to this are:
- Increased volume in traffic and collisions with hedgehogs
- Habitat loss (e.g. mown lawns, reduced number of hedges and verges)
- Habitat fragmentation (i.e. habitats being broken up by landscaped features such as roads, as well as enclosed gardens reducing foraging opportunities)
- Garden pesticides and poisons
Hedgehog facts
- They rely on connected green space
- The way grounds teams manage their green space can have a big impact on the survival of hedgehogs (e.g. strimming, planting the right sort of plants)
- Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant and shouldn’t eat bread – meaty pet food and water is best if you are feeding your garden hedgehogs
- Hedgehogs emerge from hibernation around April, but some may emerge throughout the winter if its mild
How can you help?
If you have a garden, there are lots of small things you could do that would have a huge benefit to your local hedgehogs! Some ideas include:
- Creating holes in your fence for hedgehogs to travel freely between gardens. These should be around 13cm x 13cm (approximately the size of a CD case)
- Leave some ‘wild’ sections of your garden by letting the grass and plants grow, and/or leaving a pile of leaf litter to the side of your garden - this encourages more insects and in turn creates more foraging opportunities for hedgehogs. Do be careful if you clear these patches later on as you could have a sleeping hedgehog in there!
- Build a hedgehog house for refuge – you can find more information and building instructions here
- Don’t use pesticides or poison in your garden
- Join the People’s Trust for Endangered Species as a Hedgehog Hero – you can encourage your neighbours to also make their garden hedgehog friendly, creating more habitat for them
The People's Trust for Endangered Species also has an A-Z of Helping Hedgehogs resource for a lot more ideas on how you can help.
Contact the British Hedgehog Preservation Society if you are worried about a hedgehog.
The national bee population is declining, and not only do these animals have intrinsic value in nature, but we need them as pollinators for our food.
Newcastle University is taking action to provide habitats for pollinating insects. We have a number of beehives across our estate, and there are many more in the surrounding area.
We have planted up a number of unused areas of our estate as 'pollinator gardens', to provide sources of nectar and pollen as well as suitable nesting habitats. These gardens contain plants and flowers chosen by our own experts as pollinator friendly. We have a range of flowers with differing petal shapes (attracting a range of insects) and a succession of flowering times so insects have a nectar resource throughout the year.
Plant list of species used in our Robinson Library pollinator garden (PDF: 228KB).
Bats don't mind built-up areas too much, but they do need safe spaces for roosting in them.
Our campus is certainly a built-up area and is in the middle of Newcastle city centre, so we have installed roosting spaces for local pipistrelle bats. We have 2 bat barns and 39 bat boxes on campus!
Newcastle University made a Nature Positive Pledge!
Newcastle University made a Nature Positive Pledge in December 2022, this involves:
- Assessing our baseline of biodiversity impact
- Setting SMART targets to move towards being Nature Positive
- Acting and influencing for nature using the 4Rs - Refrain, Reduce, Restore and Renew
- Reporting anually on our progress
What does Nature Positive mean?
To be a Nature Positive institution, the University is required to restore the species and ecosystems that have been harmed by the impacts of our university and its activities, while also improving the University's positive impact on nature.
What we are doing to become a Nature Positive University:
We are working towards establishing our baseline biodiversity impacts across university activity. This includes exploring the potential to enhance biodiversity on the University estate.
Recent measures on our campus have included increasing the amount of wildflower planting to encourage an increase of pollinators, we are working to support our urban dwelling hedgehogs and providing homes for urban bats in our bat boxes and barns.
- EAUC biodiversity guide for colleges and universities.
- ERIC North East - Environmental Records Information Centre for the North East of England. Working with wildlife recording groups and individuals to collate environmental data used to inform nature conservation.
- iSpot - a website aimed at helping anyone identify anything in nature.
- Moorbank Botanical Gardens - the University's botanical gardens, holding a number of important plant collections and providing a tranquil oasis in the centre of the city.
- Moorside Allotments - Newcastle allotments based off Fenham Hall Drive.
- Natural History Society of Northumbria - promoting and encouraging the study of natural history, protecting the flora and fauna in the north east of England, and caring for and extending their library and collections at the Great North Museum: Hancock.
- NIReS - in the field of sustainability, the Newcastle Institute for Research on Sustainability (NIReS) coordinates research across traditional discipline boundaries to deliver practical, engaged solutions to real-world issues, under the banner Enough, For all, Forever.
- Northumberland Wildlife Trust - the leading charity dedicated to nature conservation and environmental education within Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland.
- OPAL - the Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) network is a partnership initiative celebrating biodiversity, environmental quality and people's engagement with nature.
- Ouseburn Farm - a green oasis in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne. A community-led project located in the Lower Ouseburn Valley which allows people to get up close to animals, explore the fields, woods and ponds, and stroll around the garden.
- RSPB - the largest wildlife conservation organisation in Europe. The RSPB speaks out for birds and wildlife, tackling the problems that threaten our environment.