UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD AWARDED BRONZE HEDGEHOG FRIENDLY CAMPUS ACCREDITATION

The University of Salford is celebrating after being named officially as a Bronze accredited Hedgehog Friendly Campus.

Staff and student volunteers have spent the last eight months working to make the University hedgehog friendly, after joining the Hedgehog Friendly Campus (HFC) scheme in June 2020.

Funded by The British Hedgehog Preservation Society (TBHPS), the national campaign is designed to safeguard the hedgehog population and turn universities into a safe space where they can thrive.

Although the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has prevented volunteers from being physically together during this time, the team has triumphed in turning the campus into a sanctuary for prickly visitors by completing a list of Bronze objectives from home.

These objectives included running awareness campaigns on social media, fundraising for TBHPS, and improving campus habitat by building the University’s first hedgehog house, thanks to a little help from fellow colleagues working on campus.

Salford is one of 40 universities to be awarded Bronze accreditation for 2020/21.  

Bec Bennett, Head of Environmental Sustainability at the University, said: “I am absolutely delighted that we have received Bronze accreditation and Salford is officially a hedgehog friendly campus! A huge thank you to all of our staff and student volunteers for their hard work over the past eight months to help make this happen.

“We started working towards becoming a hedgehog friendly campus in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it has been quite challenging completing our objectives without physically being on campus. The fact that we’ve been awarded Bronze accreditation in such a short space of time, and under the current circumstances, is testament to our dedicated volunteers and Estates and Facilities colleagues, who have worked alongside the team to help us get to where we are today.  

“It’s been such a lovely, positive project to work on during this time and I am very much looking forward to working towards Silver then Gold accreditation!”

Chloe Nevitt, the University's Hedgehog Friendly Champion, added: "Hedgehog Friendly Campus is a fantastic initiative and a lovely project to be involved with. I’m proud that we have been able to contribute towards helping our local wildlife and I am hoping that we can welcome more staff and students to the team as we work towards our Silver accreditation."

If you’re interested in helping the University of Salford work towards Silver HFC accreditation, please get in touch.