Hedgehog Friendly Campus

Cardiff University has been named a Hedgehog Friendly Campus in recognition of the efforts of staff and students in making the campus a better habitat for the species.

The Hedgehog Friendly Campus – a national campaign - awarded the University Bronze accreditation earlier this year.

Over the last year, a group of staff and students have worked hard to create wildlife corners with log and leaf piles, bug hotels and hedgehog houses. They’ve also undertaken regular litter picks, education campaigns, talks to primary school children and hedgehog surveys.

Dr Mafalda Costa from the School of Biosciences who leads the group said: “This was a really rewarding year, and we couldn’t be more pleased with what we achieved as a team. The contribution of our volunteers was vital to the campaign, and across the campus our colleagues were as enthusiastic as us in our drive to help hedgehogs.

“Further work is planned to ensure that hedgehogs always have access to water sources and to install more hedgehog homes on campus grounds. We are also working towards the next milestone, which will be the Silver accreditation.”

As part of the University’s annual Sustainability Week (21st-25th March 2022), staff and students can find out more about the project, how they can get involved and support the group to achieve Silver accreditation.

Mafalda added: “We’ve got so much planned over the spring including hedgehog surveys using footprint tunnels and wildlife cameras. We’ll also be litter picking, fundraising, increasing our involvement with the Cardiff community and schools, working with the University’s Estates team to make green areas safer for hedgehogs and increasing no mow areas, tree and wildflower planting. There’s plenty to do and we’d love more staff and students to get involved.”

The Hedgehog Friendly Campus talk takes place on Wednesday 23rd March between midday-2pm. The event will take place in person and online and places can be booked here.