The University is committed to preserving and maintaining the high-quality habitat and carbon rich environment of our unique riverside campus
Our campus runs along the River Dee, being around 60 acres (or 23 hectares) extending 1.8 kilometres along the riverbank. Our campus includes a densely wooded area, affectionately called the island, as well as 22 hectares of flood plan land at our Waterside Farm site.
Waterside Farm
Waterside Farm is a 55-acre site that sits directly opposite our riverside campus. By leading this project, RGU is to embark on one of the biggest biodiversity projects known at a university campus in Scotland. Waterside Farm is set to be a unique place where both flora and fauna can flourish.
We are working with environmental consultancy firm The Habitat People and kindly supported by The SRM Foundation to create a habitat for a range of threatened species whilst safeguarding this area for the future.
RGU Campus
The University is actively working to preserve the habitat on campus by protecting the natural state of wooded area known as the island, managing the conservation of ancient trees on campus, identifying, and creating additional areas of rewilding and developing garden areas with fruit bushes, apple trees, herbs, and flowers.
In partnership with Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) the campus is a red squirrel campus, we manage our salmon fishing rights with limited rod access, preserve the natural state of the river and bank habitat for numerous species including protected freshwater mussels, our rewilding and new garden area in the Garthdee House Annexe quad are now home to a range of insects and other species.
Over the course of the last six to seven years, we have worked with the SWT’s Saving Red Squirrels scheme to encourage this native species back. Through effective management of the grey squirrel population, red squirrels have been encouraged back to the campus which is now home to a growing population.
In the last few years, as part of our commitment to our sustainability drive, a number of areas of the campus are now subject to rewilding and/or return to a natural growth habit. Approximately 10% of the previously mown grassed areas have now been converted increasing the opportunity for an improved habitat for bees, insects etc. but also reducing the use of petrol driven mowers and grounds equipment- reducing emissions and use of fossil fuels. RGU is also looking to bring environmental consultancy the Habitat People to this side of the river to further our efforts.
Our campus is open to staff, students and the community so all can benefit from the increase in nature on our site. For example, our campus paths are regularly used by the local community to walk their dogs, to access our green spaces and to access and enjoy the river.
The University has been forward thinking in adapting the parkland campus of the university to increase nature wild spaces, develop garden spaces, increase biodiversity and protect a range of species.
Our ongoing work to preserve the habitat means that our campus attracts a wide range of wildlife including deer, red squirrels, rabbits, foxes, and bats, as well as an increasingly abundance range of birds and insects.