Uni prickling with pride after hedgehog work recognised
Bath Spa University has been recognised for its work to make its main campus a friendly spot for an animal that has been going through hard times.
Newton Park has been named a Hedgehog Friendly Campus and given a bronze accreditation by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.
Over the past few months a team of staff and students from Bath Spa, known as the Hedgehog Friendly Campus Team, have been raising awareness of their prickly pals and making changes to help them.
After a student survey about sightings, hedgehog houses were installed to assist hibernation. While the hogs were having their winter sleep, the team spread information about threats to the species such as habitat loss, litter and roads.
The team also held a hedgehog-themed online bake-off, and students and staff raised funds for the Preservation Society by teaming up with the university’s Walking and Mountaineering Society for a 50km walking challenge, raising £130.
The university’s Grounds Team has also attended training sessions and been placing hedgehog warning stickers on machinery and making alternations to cattle grids and ponds on campus. The campaigners’ next steps will focus on rewilding on campus and in the local community. Laura Allen, MA Heritage Management student and Hedgehog Friendly Campus Team lead, said: “Rewilding is vital in helping hedgehogs as it allows spaces to become hedgehog friendly as well as supporting other species. Rewilding can involve moving away from having ‘tidy’ gardens to include wildflower patches, log piles, compost heaps and gaps in fences.”
In addition, the team is encouraging drivers to slow down to avoid hedgehogs becoming roadkill. It is estimated that up to 335,000 hogs are killed on UK roads each year.
As hedgehogs emerge from hibernation, the team will continue their efforts and start to work towards the Silver Accreditation.
For more information, and to join in with activities, you can follow the team on: Instagram, @hedgehogsbsu; Facebook @bsuhedgehogfriendlycampus; or email, hedgehogs@bathspa.ac.uk.