Over the last week in October, the Sustainability Team had the joy of joining the Great North Museum for Hibernation Half-Term.
Throughout the vast Living Planet Gallery were a collection of stations for visiting kids and accompanying adults. Each had a unique offer, whether it was making a paper bat puppet, stroking (gently) a taxidermy hedgehog, or hearing about hibernating species on university campus, there was plenty to learn.
The Sustainability team stall focused on sharing about our on-campus hibernators. The main two being:
- Common and Soprano Pipistrelle bats (November – March)
- Hedgehogs (October – March)
The stall featured photos of hibernation locations, such as the 2 large-scale bat barns and nearly 50 bat boxes across the city centre campus. And various instruments and aids used to help monitor these species, such as charcoal powder, plastic containers and one of the five hedgehog tunnels.
The most popular item on the table was the genuine hedgehog footprints. These were taken from the city campus hedgehog surveys carried out in June. More information about biodiversity on campus can be found on our Biodiversity webpage.
Useful links:
- Hedgehog First Aid – What to do if you find a hedgehog
- The Big Hedgehog map – See where hedgehogs have been recorded on campus
- The Bat Conservation Trust – Take part in a bat survey!
- Newcastle University Biodiversity webpage