Bristol students secure top hedgehog conservation award

The campaign has helped to raise awareness of hedgehog conservation among students and staff

Volunteers and staff are celebrating after achieving award-winning status for their hedgehog havens.

The University of the West of England, Bristol and The University of Bristol gained a gold accreditation in the UK-wide Hedgehog Friendly Campus Awards.

Thirteen universities were awarded the gold status for the year 2021-22.

Zoology student Katy Woolliscroft, who hopes to work in wildlife conservation, said: "I love our local wildlife and want to help ensure its future."

MSci Biology student volunteer Jenny Southall said getting involved had been "a fantastic opportunity... you leave behind a legacy with the things you have built on campus."

UWE Bristol and The University of Bristol were among 13 universities across the UK to achieve the award in 2022

The team established hedgehog houses, wildflower meadows and hog highways between parts of the campus, alongside shelters made out of log piles, escape routes out of ponds, and hedgehog first aid kits.

Funding and accreditation for the award was provided by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society which described the species as "vulnerable to extinction" in the UK.

The State of Britain's Hedgehogs 2018 study found the number of hedgehogs living in the UK countryside had fallen between 2002 and 2017, but the rapid decline in urban populations might now be levelling out.

Staff and volunteers created a hedgehog highway on campus

Jo Wilkinson, the programme manager at Hedgehog Friendly Campus, commended staff and students for their "huge dedication and passion for helping hedgehogs and other wildlife" throughout the programme.

The University of Bristol's horticultural supervisor Simone Jacobs, said the Hedgehog Friendly Campus Campaign had given them a "wonderful opportunity to demonstrate best practice in ecological landscape management" in the past three years.

As well as this year's gold award, the University of Bristol retained its previous silver and bronze awards, becoming the only university to hold all three.