Biodiversity

Brookes and biodiversity

Flower image for biodiversityBiodiversity is what makes our campuses so beautiful. From the cuckoo's song to the emergence of crocuses in spring, Britain's biodiversity enriches our life experience, signals seasonality and makes Brookes a great place to study. We're committed to providing welcoming and inclusive environments for our students, staff and the local community. We're also working hard to enhance and protect the biodiversity on our campuses by producing a Biodiversity Strategy for all landscaped areas across our sites.

All of our campuses have management plans and will have their own action plans by 2014. We're creating them in co-operation with residents, local groups and interested parties. Our vision for Headington Hill Grounds is to: 'Provide a safe, attractive and sustainable environment for the benefit of all students, staff and visitors now and in the future.'

What can I do?

There are lots of things we're doing to make sure we improve the quality and sustainability of our grounds. For example, we restrict the use of pesticides to the absolute minimum. There are plenty of things you can do to get involved too:

  • Plant a window box: gardens can be tough to maintain. Window boxes offer a rewarding alternative. Learn more about how to grow them here.
  • Get involved in local growing schemes: Ever wanted an allotment but lacked the time? Or have you ever wondered what a sharkfin melon is? Join OxGrow, Oxford's edible community garden. You can find more information in the case study below or by visiting their website.
  • Buy natural cleaning products: Ecover can be bought at most supermarkets and doesn't have as big an environmental impact as other detergents. Bio D can be bought from most Oxfam shops and is great value for money.

Green Flag award

Green FlagThe Green Flag Award® scheme is a national standard for parks and green spaces across the UK. It recognises the best green spaces in the country and very few universities can boast that they have it. We received the award this year, but it wasn't easy. It was only through the hard work of our ground staff that we managed to get there.

The first challenge was to produce five year management plans for our three campus sites. These needed to reflect Green Flag's criteria of making the campuses welcoming and safe places to be. It took eight months to pull together the plans and it was a real collaborative effort. All ground staff had individual objectives to help it to happen and worked as a team to get everything done in time.

Once the plans had been submitted, it was time for a site visit. Two judges from Green Flag visited and spoke to key members of the ground staff before deciding to award all three campuses the award.

Oxgrow

OxGrowEver wanted an allotment but lacked the time? Or have you ever wondered what a sharkfin melon is? Meet Oxgrow, Oxford's edible community garden.

Founded on principles of experimentation and inclusiveness in February 2011, Oxgrow is run by a committee of University students, staff and Oxford residents. Eager to try out growing their own food, the group tend land kindly rented by Corpus Christi College. All for the price of a jar of honey!

Anyone can join in with the work parties that take place on Sunday afternoons. Come along at 12 to help facilitate the session, or from 1-4pm to get involved with planting, tending the garden, or learning about how to grow a wide variety of edible plants. No previous experience or knowledge is necessary; the group aren't experts themselves and are very open to new ideas.

Oxgrow are most proud of their global garden, which features callaloo, Vietnamese mustard, borlotti beans and Japanese green vegetables. They're also trying out permaculture and no dig beds. If you've got anything weird and wonderful you'd like to grow, come along and try it out.

For more information, visit OxGrow's website or follow us on Twitter.

Biodiversity facts at Brookes

  • Did you know that a survey of the trees of Headington Hill was undertaken in 2008? All our trees have been numbered and catalogued.
  • Only four universities in the UK have the Green Flag award. They are: Exeter, Reading, Nottingham and Brookes.

Biodiversity image: Tom Williams

I am proud of telling everyone that their work had won us the award. It was a jigsaw puzzle, and each person had equal importance. For us to complete it, everyone’s had a valid input. No part is more important than the other.
The work starts now. We’ve got it and now we have to maintain it. We get yearly visits to check we’re making progress.”

Tom Williams,
Ground Manager

Biodiversity image: Peter Wootton-Beard

Come, learn about the land and grow your ideas at OxGrow!”

Peter Wootton-Beard,
Committee Member of Oxgrow