The Garden Team within Queen's have been busy making sure our pollinators have an abundance of food and shelter!

They have created several 'no mow areas' within Riddel Hall, at Ashby Hill and within the DKB Quad. As a result, a range of pollinators have grown - buttercups, clover, selfheal and silene. 

In addition to the ongoing work of the Estates Team, we also need to know the level of pollinator diversity we currently have on campus in order to effectively assess the impact of such work and any future interventions. 

As a result two students from the School of Biology have been provided with placements to undertake a Phase 1 Habitat Survey during the 2021 survey season. They will be conducting plant, invertebrate, soil and mammal areas in two campus locations –Lennoxvale Street and Riddel Hall. This project has been funded via Queen's Green Fund. 

If you have a biodiversity idea that will help Queen's support the All Ireland Pollinator Plan please get in touch via email: sustainability@qub.ac.uk. 

Staff, students and local residents have rejuvenated a vacant brownfield site into a nursery growing native trees – 1,000 trees will be nurtured over the next two years, all of which will be planted within Belfast, as part of the Million Trees for Belfast Campaign. This project was imagined by the local San Souci Residents Association and local students, who are now responsible for the long-term management of the site with the support of The Conservation Volunteers NI.

In March 2022, the Lord Mayor of Belfast helped QUB staff and students and the Sans Souci Residents Association as they planted trees at Elm’s Village.

This journey started in 2019, when students and Sans Souci residents collected seeds from Belvoir Forest. Since then, local residents and the volunteers at Lennoxvale Tree Nursery on the Malone Road have looked after the acorns and helped them grow into oak saplings, which have been replanted at Elm’s Village.

The Lennoxvale Tree Nursery is just one of a number of 'Nurture and Grow' initiatives taking place across the University which bring together staff, students and members of the local community. These projects aim to increase local biodiversity and support nature in an urban setting.

The Green at Queen’s Allotment idea was created by a group of student volunteers, who worked in partnership with The Conservation Volunteers to launch the allotment in 2019.

Queen’s Accommodation have been consistently hosted allotment training for student gardeners up at Elm’s Village over the course of the year. Students have been given the opportunity to do some gardening at the allotment behind the Treehouse in Elm’s BT9, with the help of the Conservation Volunteers. Students have completed a number of tasks so far, such as identifying some of the plants already in the allotment, tidying the existing soil patches and adding compost so the students could plant some onion and garlic bulbs. Students have also learned how to use the gardening tools correctly, how to make their own planters for herbs and flowers and recently planted potatoes, carrots and cabbage.

Thank you to Elm’s BT9 for organising the training and for The Conservation Volunteers for coming to teach the students all about the allotment.

On 01/03/2022, our QUB Gardening team, with the help of some Handy Helpers, made the trip to the Ashby Building to plant a new wildlife hedgerow on the hill at the back of the Ashby. The gardeners and Handy Helpers were tasked with planting 50 linear metres of hedgerow along the fencing that separates the Ashby Building from Chlorine Gardens. In order for the hedge to be deemed a ‘wildlife’ hedgerow, there must be at least 6 species of sapling planted. The species included in our new hedgerow included:

Hawthorne, Blackthorne, Holly, Beech, Oak, Field Maple, Hazel, Crab apple, Alder.

This project is part of the Gardening team’s mission to continue increasing biodiversity across Queen’s campus.

On 23/02/2022, QUB Gardeners made the trip to West Winds Primary School, Newtownards, to help the P7s plant some birch saplings. The children had an absolute blast planting 20 birch saplings at their school! Our Gardeners also had a great time teaching the children all about birch saplings, the tree-planting process and how to look after them.

The day was so successful that the teachers at West Winds Primary School would like our gardeners to come back and help the children create a Wildflower meadow at the school. This process has already begun, with Gareth Dalzell from Dalzell Landscape Company volunteering his time to cut the turf, and the children helping lift the turf away.

On 31st May 2022, our Gardening Team, along with QCAP (Queen's Communities and Place), visited St. Malachy's Primary School in The Markets to teach students how to build bird boxes for Blue Tits and Robins. While they were there, our Gardening Team also helped tidy up the primary school's garden area- they even found some frogs while they were hard at work!

The students had a great time (as you can see from the big smiles!) and our Gardening Team enjoyed a morning of activities at the primary school.

This outing was a part of the ongoing work QCAP complete with their community partners and also part of the Gardening Team's mission to increase biodiversity at Queen's University and biodiversity within the local community.

The Alleyway Transformation Project works with local resident groups to transform unused spaces within South Belfast into vital community spaces with seating and planting. Queen’s students, staff and local residents have tided, painted and planted two alleyways – Miracle Way and Caledonia Alley. The volunteers work with Belfast artists to create murals that reflect the local community spirit. Further, the student volunteers and residential groups work in partnership with the ‘Live Here Love Here’ Campaign to ensure the area is continually maintained and enhanced via clean ups throughout South Belfast.

The School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering received £200 from the Green Fund to produce a digital timeline of their apple orchard. The below videos show the annual lifecycle of their apple trees from dormant, in blossom, early fruit, in leaf and fruit ready to be picked.