Campus Biodiversity

Went to a lunchtime lecture by my colleague Dr Dan Forman on 'The ecological value of Swansea University'. He discussed how the location may have changed in relatively recent times from a stable dune system, concentrating on the surprisingly wide range of plants, insects (including the migratory Death's Head hawkmoth Acherontia atropos), birds and mammals that share the campus with humans (their cars and their waste). Dan rightly pointed out that an impressive range of habitats were present on campus including the high-rise buildings that are faux cliffs for nesting gulls. He also suggested that much more encouragement for wildlife could be cheaply done e.g. by adding constructs to the 'Million Ponds Project', using more native species of plants in the gardens and by cutting grasses at different heights. I would add to that making edges more convoluted and replacing some walls with hedges. It might also be nice to allow some plants like nettles to flourish in defined locations (there would be more butterflies) along with Honeysuckle (there would be more moths). We might even have Butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii) although that is an alien plant. The environs of universities have been judged more positively on the basis of the number of duck species they attract (I seem to remember that York did well on this count) but I do think there is scope for a much more holistic and wide-ranging approach to encouraging campus biodiversity. We might even be able to use some of the materials in our teaching (we could certainly record the changing residents as they take up life in any new ponds)! It would also be nice to do some systematic moth trapping on the campus- the 'catch' could be displayed on a blog. Nest boxes for birds and Dormice could also be scattered around! What about a Singleton wolf pack? On second thoughts, that is likely to hit recruitment and insurance premiums.