We are very proud that one of our Gardeners, Colin Brown, has shared his expert knowledge of bug hotels with the BBC which has been included in the BBC BITESIZE article “Four hacks to help our hibernating animal friends this autumn”.
Full article can be read at http://bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z4dq6rd
Well done Colin!
We have a strong sustainable and biodiversity ethos within the University and the Grounds Team arboristrists practise this as much a possible by regularly creating habitat piles, building bird and bat boxes and protective fencing for new saplings from fallen branches and timber and leaving tree stumps as sanctuaries for insects and wildlife.
Their latest sustainable project was handcrafting a bench from a Quercus rubra (Red Oak) tree that failed in one of our valleys recently. This upcycled bench has been placed by Reed Pond under a Cupressus macrocarpa tree, which provides all day shade, and where it also has great views of the pond.
Upcycled bench
View of Reed pond from the upcycled bench
Upcycled bench is in all day shade, making it a cooling calming spot to relax
Our amazing Arb Team have finished another brilliant sustainable project!
They have used timber from Ash trees that had to be felled due to Ash Dieback and upcycled it to make protective fencing around newly planted trees.
This was all their own work done in-house; felling the trees, cutting the timber, measuring it, fixing and installing the new fences.
A great sustainable and economical use of resources delivered by our skilled, experienced and dedicated Arb Team.
Although we all love the deer we have on campus, they do enjoy eating a lot of plants, flowers and trees and these fences should protect the trees from the deer and their large appetites allowing the trees to grow and flourish.
Throughout the pandemic the University sited an outdoor Covid testing centre on Streatham Campus and now that this centre has been disbanded, the Covid Testing Centre Manager, Deborah Custance-Baker, contacted the Grounds Team and kindly offered two of the testing sheds to be re-housed.
Deborah said “During the pandemic, the Covid Rapid Response Team took over the Sports Hall and ran a drive-through testing centre at Car Park B, which we used the sheds for. The testing officially ended at the end of early June 2022. We had found it difficult to rehome equipment from the the project as there was such a mass of it all. Now Covid is coming to and end, it is great to find a benefit of these sheds for the local communities”.
Our Horticultural and Operations Manager, Anthony Cockell, made some enquiries within the local communities and found two new homes for these sheds – Exeter St Thomas Community Garden and the Refugee Support Devon Community Allotment.
Anthony, along with two members of the Grounds Team – Sam Whitehorne and Leo Brooke, used their University annual volunteering community day to work together and deliver these sheds to their new horticultural homes.
This is a great sustainable and community initiative and we are delighted to be able to support these local communities.
The pandemic highlighted the importance of outdoor space, the benefits of nature and gardening and how it increases wellbeing and mental and physical health. So it seems fitting that equipment used for the pandemic can now be used for community allotments and gardens.
Thank you to everyone involved with this project; your generosity and hard work will benefit many!
Loading the sheds
Loading the sheds
Loading the sheds
Delivering the shed to the Refugee Support Devon Community Allotment
Shed delivered – great job everyone!
All members of the Grounds Team took part in a new Mighty Oak Award knock-out competition in 2021 which ran for eight months until the winner was declared. The competition included questions on health and safety, horticulture, arboriculture and some unusual statistics in the industry!
The competition helped improve working relationships, highlighted the combined horticultural and arboricultural knowledge and expertise of the team and also showed the competitive nature of some of the team members!
The award trophy was created in-house from felled timber on campus, which not only made it sustainable, personal but also free!
Mighty Oak Award 2021 trophy
Marcus, the proud winner of the Mighty Oak Award 2021
Ash Dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) is a fungal disease first recorded by the Forestry Commision in 2006 becoming prominent in the South East of England in 2012.
We have confirmations on Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) specimens within our University since 2018, as has been the case for other well monitored sites in Devon and Cornwall.
The infection is permanent with no control and, although mostly terminal, there is a high degree of variability with respect to the seriousness and speed of the symptoms. We are gifted with a high number of people exploring, enjoying and being amongst our grounds and any sign of symptom is considered with great caution so physical management of these trees today and in the future is a certainty.
The dilemma amongst the Grounds team is that we know how valuable Ash is to biodiversity as a habitat. It hosts Woodpeckers (Dendrocopos major), Tawny Owls (Strix aluco), Redstarts (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) and the team favourite the Nuthatch (Sitta europaea), all for nesting. The lichens and moss which grow freely are a food source for caterpillars.
We are able to balance these interests and find opportunity where people are safe, and friends of other species can continue to share the space together.
The solution we have employed, which you can see in the photo below, is to carry out a veteranisation process on a tree. The major limbs are completely removed until the crown has gone and there is only a trunk left standing. The tree is then ringbarked which involves removing the living tissue from around the trunk. With the xylem and phloem severing the plants’ ability to transport water and nutrients, the tree will die and decay and this breaking down process will become host to insect species.
Importantly as the trunk is short and wide with developed buttress roots, there is no expectation that this tree will fall.
The top of the trunk can now be coronet pruned. This describes a technique that aims to replicate the natural fracturing effect seen after a limb failure, where insect species can easily reside within and rainfall can sit and gather amongst the dead wood.
Trunk segmentations have been cut out, hollowed and an entrance point made. These have been re-attached to the trunk around all four compass points as a future bird nesting habitat.
For anyone that would like to visit this work its location can be found here – http://ex.ac.uk/veteran-ash-specimen
For the future, the best course of action is regularly monitoring the species we care for. After all a minority will also be genetically tolerant and that stock of trees amongst our collection will be vital for the long-term future of the woodlands and specimens here when we begin to repopulate.
Our Grounds Sports Team based at Topsham Sports Ground have been busy making bird boxes and bat boxes from spare wooden palettes. These have been put up around the grounds in time for the bird nesting season and the excess ones will be sold at our plant sales.
Bird and bat boxes upcycled from wooden pallets
If that wasn’t impressive enough, the Grounds Sports Team have also created a bug hotel upcycled from a tree that fell during the recent storms.
Bug hotel upcycled from a fallen tree
What fantastic sustainability initiatives, well done to all our creative Grounds Sports Team.