Biodiversity monitoring: how biodiverse is our campus?

Explore our data.

In 2024 we conducted a baseline habitat survey across the University estate to help us understand the area and condition of habitats across our land. This data is helping to inform the changes we can make to improve the quality of our greenspaces for nature, and where we can connect habitats across our estate.

We have created a dashboard which includes:

  • Habitat maps for each campus and the University’s farmland
  • Condition of each habitat area
  • Species records
  • Urban Greening Factor calculations of each campus
King's Buildings biodiversity data dashboard
A campus habitat map of King's Buildings. You can access our habitat survey dashboard to view biodiversity and habitat data for each campus.

Support our biodiversity data collection

Volunteers are helping to monitor wildlife populations across our campus, helping to inform our understanding of biodiversity on our estate, and in some cases across the UK.

One example of this is the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme (NHMP) which first came to Easter Bush Campus in summer 2024. The Programme will help to establish the first accurate picture of the UK's hedgehog population.

Find out how students and staff supported the NHMP at Easter Bush

Get involved: Wild campus events, training and volunteering

You can also help us to monitor biodiversity by using the iNaturalist app to log species you spot across our wild campus.

Identify species on campus with the iNaturalist app

Seven spotted lady beetle, by J Obbard via iNaturalist
Seven spotted lady beetle, by J Obbard via iNaturalist

Do you want to learn more about nature and the variety of species around us? The iNaturalist app offers a way to log your observations of the natural world, from rare bird sightings to common garden weeds. The app translates your observations into data which is then shared with scientific communities and used to support national biodiversity records. We can also access these records and include them in our dashboard.

To take part, you just need to:

  1. Download the iNaturalist app
  2. Make sure location is enabled on your phone
  3. You can either take photos of animals you encounter while the app is open or just take photos normally (with location enabled) and upload them to the app later on

All photos taken will automatically become part of each campus site Collection that we have already created.

So why not use a lunchtime or break from work to go outside and log your sightings using the app? If you're not sure of a species, iNaturalist naturalists will help with identifications once photos are uploaded.

Download iNaturalist app [external]

View iNaturalist collections from our campus

See what plants and animals other staff and students have already mapped in our iNaturalist campus collections:

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