Biodiversity - Sustainability - University of Kent Jump to content Biodiversity Natural Spaces and Biodiversity at Kent Learn about the teams, projects and actions that are supporting habitats and wildlife on our campuses. Our Commitment Regenerate the ecology of the campus to mitigate biodiversity loss & the decline in ecosystem services. Support the use of natural spaces for education, engagement, & wellbeing, Strategy Reducing herbicides We have removed the usage of Glyphosate from central campus as part of a two year trial to massively reduce our reliance on herbicides. Read (internal news) No Mow May We are taking part in No Mow May again this year! BioBlitz 2026 Join us on Saturday 30th May for this years annual BioBlitz! Get involved 60 years of growth The land use change from 3 farms to University campus, and future centred around nature, food and wellbeing. Read (pdf) My Campus and Other Animals My Campus and Other Animals is a play on the book title My Family and Other Animals, an autobiographical book by British naturalist Gerald Durrell. My Campus and Other Animals' aim is to support students, staff and visitors to access and engage with the nature on their doorstep. Use the buttons below to discover more about the different species we all share campus with. Students can also join us on our weekly Biodiversity Booster sessions at the Kent Community Oasis Garden, see below for more information. Amphibians Birds Mammals Invertebrates Event date: Online read Find out more about the campaign More information Event date: Online Read My Campus and Other Animals Blog Read Event date: Weekly Rodentifiers Kent students taking part in the 2026 Mammal Challenge Event date: Weekly in term time Biodiversity Boosters Location: Kent Community Oasis Garden More information Activities around campus Landscape and Grounds Landscape and Grounds The Landscape and Grounds team lead on the operational activities to support wildlife on campus. This includes designing planting schemes that are drought-tolerant and high in pollen. iNaturalist iNaturalist We have a number of charismatic species across campus, as well as many secretive ones. You can record your spots on the iNaturalist app and join the UoK project. Sign up (iNaturalist) The Annual BioBlitz The Annual BioBlitz A race against time to count as many species on campus as possible! Explore Mapping the campus Mapping the campus The DICE E3 team are supporting staff and students in mapping the campus to UKHab standard. This will collate information on campus habitats & species, as well as support better management decisions. Wilder Kent Gold Award Wilder Kent Gold Award The University and its Sustainability Team are proud to be 2x gold winners at the Wilder Kent Awards for the work done by many across the University to support wildlife and sustainability at Kent. The Winners (Kent Wildlife Trust) Biodiversity Working Group Biodiversity Working Group The Biodiversity Working Group are a collection of operational and academic staff, as well as representative students who work collectively to improve biodiversity across our campuses. Bumblebee Surveys Bumblebee Surveys The Kent Community Oasis Garden based in Parkwood, runs monthly Bumblebee survey walks throughout Spring, Summer and Autumn. Join in Canterbury District Biodiversity Network Canterbury District Biodiversity Network The University of Kent is proud to host and support the CDBN, a local network of conservation organisations, landowners, Friends Groups and more. Explore Diamond Orchard Diamond Orchard The 60th Anniversary Orchard was planted to welcome in the class of 2025, the students who will be graduating in the University's 60th Anniversary Year. Bison in the Blean Bison in the Blean Bison have been reintroduced to part of the Blean Forest complex as part of Kent Wildlife Trust's Wilder Blean project. A mural was painted to mark this exciting project on our doorstep. The Mural Hedgehogs Hedgehogs We monitor hedgehog presence and absence on campus. This is one of many surveys done by DICE, the Sustainability Team, Estates and others. Rabbits! Rabbits! You will definitely see rabbits whilst at the Canterbury campus. Although, not native to the UK, they have been here for hundreds of years and have become a favourite of many here at Kent. Study biodiversity and conservation with us The University of Kent is home to a world-leading conservation research centre (DICE) , and we are busy training the next generation of biodiversity conservation champions on our undergraduate and postgraduate conservation courses. Trails around campus The River The River The River of... Vegetation, Biodiversity, Wellbeing, Food... A meandering route across campus that celebrates plant life! Explore SDG Trail SDG Trail Get to know the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as you take a walk across campus. Explore Central Campus Trail (Coming soon!) Central Campus Trail (Coming soon!) An accessible trail highlighting wildlife hotspots in the centre of campus. FAQs Got a question about habitat management on campus or anything related to our natural spaces and wildlife? See if it has been answered below first and if not, email us at sustainability@kent.ac.uk. During the winter the Landscape and Grounds Team carry out rotational coppicing. You can read more about that in our blog. The practice of coppicing does not kill the tree, with the stumps regrowing. Coppicing supports the health of our woodlands, and by increasing the diversity of light levels across our woodlands we can increase the diversity of vegetation that is able to grow on our woodland floors. You can read our latest woodland survey and management plan here. The Landscape and Grounds team manage our grasslands in a variety of ways, including different frequencies of mowing. You can see our grassland management map in our strategy appendices . We take part in No Mow May each Spring, adding more and more amenity lawns (lawns that would traditionally be mown regularly) each year. We have trialled a variety of different meadow seed mixes and methodologies and are putting together our plans for a wildflower meadow on the Southern Slopes. We currently use glyphosate as a herbicide on the hardstanding areas of campus and around the sports facilities. We have a year-on-year reduction target that is monitored by the Biodiversity Working Group. We ultimately want to remove its use on this from campus, however, the Landscape and Grounds teams have trialled other methods of weed removal and these have not been successful or efficient enough. We are removing the usage of this chemical from central campus as part of a two-year trial to see how weed growth responds, adapt out maintenance schedules and see what people's responses are to seeing more weeds around. Ponds do naturally dry out and this can be a good thing for the health of a pond, as a way of eradicating disease or an invasive species. However, some of our ponds are drying out very regularly. This is partly due to the changing climate, however, many of our ponds contain an artificial liner, these are now failing after decades in place. We are seeking funding to restore some of our amenity ponds which rely on liners to hold water. We would be looking to install natural clay liners rather than plastic. Due to water conservation, we cannot fill ponds with potable water during dry spells. We love to see students and staff using the natural spaces as a living laboratory! Your research will likely need ethics approval through your School first. Once you have that, please get in touch with us at sustainability@kent.ac.uk as we can advise on logistics, security and safety of any equipment that needs to be left out as part of your research as well as advising on lone working policies, SafeZone and other relevant information. We can also liaise with Estates colleagues so that everyone that needs to know about your project has the right information. We also have records of any existing information, research, survey results etc that may be of relevance to your area of study. You can view a list of these here. Once you have completed your research, we would love if you could share your results with us, so we can learn more about the campus and use this to improve how we manage the natural spaces. Yellow-legged (Asian) hornets are an invasive predatory species that has the potential to cause significant loss to our native bee species. If you think you have seen one on campus or beyond please report all possible sightings. Here's a website with guidance on how to report (Non Native Species Secretariat) as well as how to identify (YouTube video).