Back in October 2020 the University launched its first-ever Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) to help ensure we have a positive impact on biodiversity and ecosystems. Staff and students are integral to achieving this ambition and many of you came together in our summer Spot On! campaign to enjoy and protect local biodiversity. 

If you missed out on the campaign, here’s how you can catch up: 

• Join the University’s wildlife recording group (‘CU wildlife recording’) to share your sightings with us and help inform future conservation initiatives. By recording what we find, we can use evidence to better manage the biodiversity on our doorstep. 
• Join the University’s Biodiversity Yammer group to receive biodiversity updates and for informal opportunities to meet like-minded staff across the University. All staff have automatic access to Yammer. 
• Watch our opening event ‘Creating a nature-friendly estate’ online now. It includes a step-by-step guide to the importance of recording wildlife sightings and how to get involved. The panel features Mike Maunder, Executive Director of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and chair of the University’s Ecological Advisory Panel, and Chantal Helm from the Botanic Garden.   
• View a recording of our most popular online event, Introduction to bats. Did you know you can also borrow equipment such as bat detectors to hep record bats on the University site? To borrow equipment and learn how to use it, contact the Botanic Garden. 
• Find out more about the Hedgehog Friendly Campus and hear how Fitzwilliam College have already achieved their Bronze accreditation. 

Want to get involved but worried you don’t know your bug from your beetle?  

Wildlife spotting is not only a fascinating way to spend some time, it helps us understand the bigger biodiversity picture. It’s simple really – once we know which species call our estate home, we can better support them.  

Anyone can help support biodiversity, whether you can identify 100 birds or 0. All sightings entered into iRecord are verified by an expert so if you can grab a quick photo of your sighting then others can help ID! From butterflies to woodlice and robins to buzzards, we want to hear about them all! A quick start guide to iRecord is available here.

If you’re looking to finetune your own identification skills, The Wildlife Trust BCN have a multitude of online courses, with student discounts available. These courses are hugely popular, with over 100 of you attending the introductory courses the University ran in partnership with The Wildlife Trust BCN during Spot On!  

Thank you for being a part of Spot On! 2021 

Finally, we want to say a huge thank you for joining us in celebrating and exploring biodiversity this summer. Over 240 staff and students attended an online event or visited a University biodiversity site as part of the campaign. Thanks to your involvement, we’ve also seen a welcome increase in the numbers of people sharing their wildlife sightings with us by signing up to iRecord. 

It was fantastic to see you taking part in the annual bioblitz, surveying hedgehogs at the Botanic Garden or joining our Grounds teams on a guided walk. We’re always looking for ways to improve our engagement with the University community so, if you took part in an event, please do fill in our Spot On! survey so we know what could be better next time. 

Our campaign may be over but enhancing and promoting biodiversity is a 24/7 job – help keep the biodiversity buzz going by joining the University Biodiversity Yammer group and sharing your latest sightings, musings and questions. We’ll see you there! 

Written by Rachel Steward, Environmental Manager