In addition to the ongoing work of the Estates Team, we also monitor 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. 

The Gardening Team within Queen's are always busy making sure pollinators have an abundance of food and shelter on campus.

The gardening team have:

• Created several 'No Mow Areas' within Riddel Hall, at Ashby Hill, within the DKB Quad and a brand-new area on the MBC site, resulting in a range of pollinators growing- buttercups, clover, selfheal and silene.
• Planted species that are listed on the RSPB approved plant list (roughly 80% of all plants on site), including lupins, lavender, teugn, nepeta cataria, hellebores, grape hyacinth and anenome.
• Planted orchards across our campus- you can find these at the DKB and Elm's BT9 Accommodation. The orchards include apple, cherry and plum trees.

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.

The aim of the BT9 Student Allotment was to promote the importance of green spaces around the university, increase biodiversity, and support mental wellbeing and mindfulness by providing an area for relaxation. The project has proven to be a resounding success. The society currently has seven beds planted with a range of plants and vegetables, including potatoes, onions, and daffodils. With the help of the Conservation Volunteers the society has also created an apple orchard on site. Future plans include implementing composting and continuing to host a range of workshops. To get involved in the allotment please email rlcbt9@qub.ac.uk. 

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.

On Tuesday 10 October, the Sustainability Team, the Grounds and Gardening Team and SUVolunteer’s Handy Helpers travelled up to Riddel Hall to plant winter bulbs and increase biodiversity in the area.

The QUB Gardeners made the trip to Newtownwards to help the P7s of West Winds Primary School 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.

Over the past year, as part of Queen’s commitment to sustainability in collaboration with a Royal Society Partnership grant, academics have been working with West Winds Primary School in Newtownards on biodiversity projects, including the creation of a wildlife zone, a wildflower meadow and the creation of a small woodland.

With the assistance of Professor Mark Emmerson, a STEM partner from the School of Biological Sciences at Queen's, and the University's Gardening team, the school children have embarked on a journey to learn about the natural world and how to look after it.

The article can be read on the Queen’s website.

The 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 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 Sustainability Team, Gardening Team and landscapers from Dalzell Landscape Company visited the Windsor Women's Centre Belfast to help them prepare for Christmas. This included tidying up their allotment area (which had become overgrown since COVID-19), and decorating the allotment to become a Winter Wonderland for Santa visiting next week.

This was a great day of volunteering for our teams and it really helped them get into the Christmas spirit! Thank you to Windsor Women's Centre Belfast for having us along, and letting us decorate the allotment, and also to Dalzell Landscape Company for working hard to clear the space and make it functional again- they completed the work in a few hours!

On Valentine's Day 2024, the Sustainability team were joined by LEAF Technicians, students and the Sans Souci Residents Association, and planted 120 oak saplings around Malone Playing Fields as a way of showing our appreciation and love for nature. The oak saplings had been nurtured by Sans Souci residents in the Lennoxvale Tree Nursery for the last 1-2 years, and were ready to be transplanted to their new homes to hopefully grow into mighty oaks.

It was a fantastic morning, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed getting out in nature to give something back to the local area! This is one of many tree plantings events that the university hosts as part of the One Million Trees for Belfast Initiative created by Belfast City Council.

To mark National Tree Week, 26 native saplings have been planted at Malone Playing Fields on behalf of the 26 areas that achieved a response rate of 70 per cent or more in the Staff Survey.

People and Culture and the Staff Forum worked with the University Sustainability Team to pledge a commitment that the University would plant a tree for each area that achieved a response rate of 70 per cent or more in the Staff Survey. This pledge was made in line with the University’s commitment to sustainability and ensured that colleagues’ responses to the survey would make a positive impact on the environment by enhancing our biodiversity.

In partnership with SU Volunteer, Public Engagement, The Conservation Volunteers and Sans Souci Residents Association, Queen's community planted 500+ saplings as part of the Belfast City Council One Million Trees for Belfast Initiative.

Staff, students and local residents have rejuvenated a vacant brownfield site into Lennoxvale Tree Nursery. The nursery is a great place to grow native trees, and has allowed for 1000 trees to be nurtured since 2019, all of which have been planted within Belfast as part of the One Million Trees for Belfast Initiative. This project was imagined by the local Sans Souci Residents Association and students, who are now responsible for the long-term management of the site with the support of The Conservation Volunteers NI.

The QUB Gardening team, with the help of SU Volunteer, 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.

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.

Increasingly, Queen's University are investing in biodiversity initiatives to ensure our campus is providing a home for wildlife. To ensure what we are doing is supporting our local wildlife, the number and range of biodiversity surveys taking part across campus needs to continually increase. 

This has resulted in a range of staff and student projects:

• Queen's Wildlife Camera Project undertaken by the Porters
• School of Biological Sciences Living Lab Surveys
• The Sustainability and Gardening Team undertaking a range of citizen science surveys