Explore our wild campus

We’re on a long-term mission to nurture our extraordinary campus into biodiverse, habitat-rich havens, where wildlife and our communities will thrive side-by-side.

wild campus logo

What makes Edinburgh an extraordinary place to live, work and study? We share our Wild Campus with a rich variety of wildlife, from peregrine falcons, to otters, badgers and deer, to the humble hedgehog. We are working to transform our campus into nature-rich spaces that support biodiversity alongside the wellbeing of our communities.

Did you know that 86% of students think that all universities should take action to protection and support nature on their grounds or on other land they own? 

Student opinion on access to nature and education 

As you stroll through certain parts of our campus, you'll notice signs highlighting key species and habitats, designed to catch your eye and showcase the untamed beauty of our wild spaces.

Do you have a Wild Campus vision of your own, or ideas about how we can support nature positive practices on campus?

Share your ideas by emailing us with "Wild Campus" in the subject line.

Contact us

Edinburgh Global photo competition: Nature and wildlife

We are thrilled to announce that the Forest & Peatland programme and Wild Campus programme are sponsoring a new category as part of Edinburgh Global’s annual photography competition for international students.

We’re looking for photos that depict your explorations of our wild campus, or areas in Scotland where nature is blossoming anew.

Submit your photo by 10 February 2025.

Find out more and enter

Help us monitor wildlife on our wild campus

We need your help to identify wildlife on our Easter Bush campus! In summer 2024, staff and students at the University of Edinburgh helped to deploy a network of cameras at Easter Bush to capture hedgehog and other wildlife activity as part of the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme.

Now we need your help to classify all the images! Help to classify wildlife from Easter Bush by creating an account on Mammal Web. You'll then be able to select the NHMP project, and choose "NHMP - Edinburgh 1".

You'll then be able to review photos from the camera traps and identify the wildlife in the images.

Access MammalWeb to get started. [external]

There are plenty of opportunities to take part in nature positive activities across our wild campus. Find out more and get involved.

We're turning the University's playing fields at Peffermill into a wildlife haven, and you're invited to be part of it.

The Hedgehog Friendly Campus scheme has been running at the University since 2019. The project has provided a platform for staff and students to drive all sorts of biodiversity benefits.

Explore the variety of plants and animals across our campus.