Nottinghamshire wildlife Trust Chairman, Dr Ian Johnston, recently visited Nottingham Trent University to meet the Director of Estates and Resources, Ged O'Donoghue, and members of the Sustainable Development Team, to present them with a certificate to mark the University’s support as a member of the charity’s Wildlife Guardians corporate involvement scheme.

The Wildlife Trust and NTU have a long history of partnership which stretches back well over 20 years with many NTU Alumni having worked for the charity and countless students having either volunteered with the Trust or conducted research and projects linked to the charity’s nature reserves and conservation activities. Over the past decade the most visible aspect of the partnership has been the collaboration which has seen the Trust provide expert advice to keep the University’s resident peregrines, which nest high on the Newton Building, safe and has seen the web cam, initially installed to provide security, become one of the most popular wildlife webcams in the UK.

In addition to providing support relating to the peregrine nest, which includes supervising the annual ringing of the chicks, the Trust also provides placement opportunities for NTU students via its commercial ecological consultancy EMEC Ecology and has recently provided advice to help incorporate features to ensure that campus redevelopments are as wildlife friendly as possible.

Speaking about the partnership Charmaine Morrell, NTU’s Sustainable Development Manager said:

Charmaine Morrell continues "We know that connecting with nature is great for health and wellbeing and through our Wildlife Guardians partnership, our staff benefit from reduced membership fees as individuals, encouraging them to visit wonderful nature reserves, such as Attenborough. We would recommend becoming a Wildlife Guardian, to play a part in preserving these great nature reserves for all to enjoy."

Speaking on behalf of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, Head of Communications Erin McDaid added: “We are proud of our long and productive partnership with NTU, one of the greenest universities in the world.

Many people will be aware of our partnership linked to the peregrines but we also have a long and varied history of working together to provide exciting research, volunteering and placement opportunities for students and we’ve welcomed many NTU Graduates to our team down the years. NTU is committed to creating vibrant and welcoming campuses which also incorporate green areas with room for wildlife. We wish more companies would take this enlightened approach and we’re delighted to help the team make future developments even more wildlife friendly.”