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Heroes
UEA Biodiversity Heroes is a volunteer group led by the Biodiversity and Community Coordinator within the Estates department, supported by the Grounds team. Together, we are helping to protect, restore and enhance the remarkable biodiversity found across the University of East Anglia estate and the wider Yare Valley landscape.
UEA is home to an exceptionally rich and varied landscape, with habitats including fen, marsh, river, broad, grassland and woodland. The campus contains seven County Wildlife Sites and at least 5,793 recorded species, including more than 100 species considered rare, scarce or threatened.
From restoring wetlands and species-rich meadows to managing woodlands for wildlife, Biodiversity Heroes volunteers play an important role in creating a greener, more resilient campus for both people and nature.
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What we've been doing
Over recent years, Estates and Grounds have been working alongside the UEA Biodiversity Heroes volunteers to deliver a growing programme of habitat restoration and enhancement projects across campus.
This has included ditch restoration works at Bluebell Marsh to improve wetland habitats and hydrology, coppicing in The Heronry and Violet Grove Woodland to create healthier woodland structure and improve conditions for wildlife, meadow restoration and management across grassland sites, and the ongoing restoration of Butterfly Meadow using seed collected from local wildflower-rich meadows.
The team has also been developing the university’s “Pollinator Push” project, which aims to create better habitat for pollinating insects through changes in grassland management. This has included increasing no-mow areas across campus, scarifying species-poor grassland and introducing locally appropriate wildflower seed mixes to improve botanical diversity and provide more food and shelter for pollinators.
This work supports UEA’s wider commitments to biodiversity recovery, climate resilience and sustainable land management, helping to create a more connected and resilient landscape across the campus and Yare Valley.
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Get Involved
UEA Biodiversity Heroes provides opportunities for students, staff and members of the local community to get involved with practical conservation work, learn about the ecology of the campus and help care for the university’s green spaces.
Volunteer sessions take place throughout the year and no previous experience is needed - everyone is welcome.
To sign up to the mailing list and hear about upcoming work parties and events, fill in this online form.
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Pollinator Monitoring Scheme
This summer, UEA Biodiversity Heroes are taking part in the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS) by carrying out Flower-Insect Timed (FIT) Counts across campus.
FIT Counts are a simple way for anyone to contribute to national pollinator monitoring. All you need to do is spend ten minutes observing a patch of flowers and recording the insects that visit. The data collected helps scientists understand how pollinator populations are changing over time and informs conservation action across the UK.
The best part? Anyone can get involved. Simply download the FIT Count App, and when you submit your survey, select UEA Biodiversity Heroes as your local project. By joining our project, your observations from campus (or anywhere else) will contribute both to the national scheme and to our understanding of pollinators at UEA.
You don't need to be an expert to take part, the app guides you through the process, helping you identify groups of insects rather than individual species. Whether you're a student, member of staff, or visitor to campus, it's a great excuse to spend ten mindful minutes outdoors while making a real contribution to citizen science.
So next time you're passing a patch of flowers, why not stop, take a closer look, and join us in helping to monitor and protect the UK's pollinators?
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