Nature Positive Pledge
The University of Exeter took a pledge to become a Nature Positive University in 2022. You can read about this here.
This means that we aim to become nature positive in all aspects of our activities – from research and teaching to our beautiful campuses and impacts of our supply chain.
The goals of the Nature Positive Strategy are to enhance biodiversity through protection, restoration and expansion where possible, and to increase the direct and indirect benefits accrued from biodiversity by people (via estates management, teaching, research, operations and supply chain).
The University applies a principle of Protect-Enhance-Extend to biodiversity impacted by University activities, including on our Estates but also more broadly.
Baseline
The University of Exeter has been collecting baseline data on nature on its campuses in Exeter (Streatham and St Luke’s) and Cornwall (Penryn).
The number of biodiversity units (following Defra’s biodiversity net gain calculations) have been recorded for campuses at Streatham (2021), St Luke’s (2021), Penryn (2019) and Duryard (2023).
The Biodiversity Net Gain units per hectare are:
- Streatham - 6.3
- St Luke's - 3.8
- Lower Hoopern Valley - 9.5
- Penryn - 6.1
Bird surveys have been carried out on Streatham and St Luke’s campuses since 2008. In 2024, we set up a UK butterfly monitoring scheme transect (https://ukbms.org/) and a BeeWalk (www.beewalk.org.uk) in the Lower Hoopern Valley.
Targets
Our targets are outlined in the Nature Positive Strategy and are all aimed at achieving five key objectives:
1) Improve the biodiversity value of University campuses by maintaining a sustainable and well-connected ecosystem with viable wildlife populations on University landholdings, and reduce impacts of estates operations and capital projects on biodiversity.
The University will look holistically at campus development, allowing for space for wildlife populations to potentially shift around and use different areas. When considering net gain for biodiversity after development we will include both formal planning developments and permitted development on campus.
2) Increase the natural capital value of University campuses and areas we can influence.
The benefits that we gain from nature will be enhanced by thoughtful planning and by converting grey infrastructure to green where possible.
3) Increase how we engage/connect people with nature (via teaching, volunteering, research).
4) Provide positive benefits to staff, students and local communities as a result of nature-based interventions.
5) Reduce the impact of our operations, supply chain and global activities on biodiversity and the environment.
Recent highlights
We worked with our Grounds team and our Green Consultant students to run a No Mow May campaign reducing mowing in certain areas of campus, including social media and events to encourage sustainable management of grassland – check out their activities on the Grounds team blog. The Grounds team then left some areas long throughout the summer and managed some in autumn by carrying out a cut and collect which help increase plant species diversity and conserve grassland.
We are starting work to manage our part of the watershed. We have installed nature-based flood management solutions in the Lower Hoopern Valley, such as leaky dams and woody flow spreaders. These help slow the flow of water from campus and benefit freshwater biodiversity. By removing man-made weirs and using woody material from on-site trees felled for health and safety reasons, we have created a greater variety of habitats with increased connectivity for wildlife. This will reduce over-shading and over-deepening of the Taddiforde Brook. These changes have resulted in a gain in biodiversity units of 3.6% for our watercourses, and enhances the natural capital value of our campus.
Working with Estates, we trialled wildlife-friendly lighting on Streatham Campus to understand how it would impact people using campus. So far most people who have commented have been supportive.
We are developing a monitoring plan for our on-campus species biodiversity, including protected species. We have compiled information on bat species recorded on campus: we have 13 of the UK’s 18 species, including the Lesser Horseshoe bat and Greater Horseshoe bat. These are species of conservation concern in the UK. In 2025, we carried out a campus-wide survey for dormice, a European protected species and a GB Red listed species. We were excited to find them on our northern boundary, likely linked to a wider population in the Valley Parks surrounding Exeter. Following this, we are planning activities which will enhance habitat for them.
Our excellent Grounds team have continued their work on butterflies, repeating the egg counts for the Brown Hairstreak butterfly, a species recorded as vulnerable on the GB Red List of Endangered Species. The UKBMS transect recorded 420 butterflies of 17 different species! The Bee Walk resulted in 100 bumblebees recorded from 11 different species. These numbers are slightly down on last year, and we will be comparing them to national datasets when they are released. The ongoing bird surveys recorded 40 species in 2025 with 2505 records – for further details, check out the Grounds team blog.
In 2024/25, we engaged 770 people at 29 events, including events on biodiversity monitoring. We invited staff, students and the local community to take part in events on sustainable land management, including hedge planting and hedge maintenance. We carried out our first campus green space survey – for staff, students and local community to understand what benefits they gain from our campus green spaces and what they would like to see more or less of. A summary of our results will be available on our blog space.
Last updated 10/11/2025
