Wilding Campus East: Promoting biodiversity Gordon Eastham
Event details
Learn how a tract of arable land has been transformed into a thriving biodiverse habitat of lake, lagoons, wet meadows and grassland at the University of York.
With orchids, campion and viper’s bugloss among the flowers, and sand martins, reed warblers, skylarks, oystercatchers and little grebes among the birds, Campus East provides a special habitat for numerous species, and an ecology laboratory for York students.
In the first talk of our two-part series, Gordon Eastham, Grounds Maintenance Manager at the University of York, discusses the initial development of Campus East and explains how this special habitat was created.
Discover how the landscape was planned and what needed to be done to transform the arable land into a biodiverse habitat, while still serving its function as a university campus.
Why not watch Gordon’s presentation, then sign up for the second event in this series, which features a talk by Robin Perutz of the University of York’s Department of Chemistry? Robin will look at the variety of species found on Campus East, and the educational and research opportunities it provides. Afterwards, he’ll be joined by Gordon for a discussion and Q&As.
Both our talks in the Wilding Campus East series will explore how biodiversity is just as much of an asset for students, staff and the public as the other facilities of the university.
This event is presented with the support of Ron and Barbara Cooke.
This is a YouTube Premiere event. You’ll be sent a link to the screening a couple of days before it takes place, as well as a reminder an hour before.
Following the screening, this event will be available to Watch Again on YouTube throughout the Festival.
The second event in this series, Wilding Campus East: A thriving habitat, will take place live on Monday 14 June. To fully appreciate and take part in this second event, we recommend watching Wilding Campus East: Promoting biodiversity first.
Your Campus East Photographs
Campus East is open to all and we know many local residents and members of the University community enjoy taking their daily exercise there. We’d love to see any wildlife photos or videos you have taken while visiting. Why not share them on social media using the hashtag #YorkIdeasWilding - or email them across to us to share?
Facebook: YorkFestivalofIdeas
Twitter: @YorkFestofIdeas
Instagram: yorkfestivalofideas
Email: yorkfestivalofideas@york.ac.uk.
Staying safe online
When posting photos/videos online, under 18s should be supervised. We would recommend that you use first names only and don’t include anything that identifies you or your home address.
About the speaker
Gordon Eastham gained an HND in landscape and horticultural technology at Askham Bryan College, York. After working at the University of Leeds, he joined the University of York in 1994 as Supervisor of Grounds. He was heavily involved in the landscaping of the University’s Campus East and is now the Grounds Maintenance Manager.
While waiting for this event to take place why not watch our Campus East nesting swans?
Partners
Festival of Ideas
This event is from the York Festival of Ideas, an annual festival run by the University of York to enhance York’s reputation as a city of ideas and innovation through offering the highest calibre of public events to local, regional and visitor audiences.
Contact us
David Diston
If you have any questions about the University of York's involvement please contact David Diston, our designated COP26 central contact.