University of Derby

From dull green grass to beautifully wild – the story of our campus

We are proud that our University has come on a long journey from dull green grass beginnings to the wild and beautiful site it is today. Lessons were learnt during the pandemic and a new nature positive vision for the university grounds was created that aims to embrace biodiversity as well as be an educational resource for all our students.

Our ‘no mow’ and wildflower meadows have gone from non-existent to covering large areas of our grounds. We have planted over 150 trees in the winter of 2022/23, created a large fruit tree orchard, expanded our bee hives, and installed several new bird boxes. Our academics work closely with grounds staff to provide advice and guidance on all of these activities and our students are key stakeholders, who have helped to drive these transformational changes.

Top 3 Learnings

1. Collaboration is key – get people from different backgrounds in the same room to progress plans.
2. Most of the actions you can take to improve biodiversity are very cheap or free!
3. There are lots of different courses that can have a link to biodiversity.