Springing into Spring

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Springing into Spring at Bath Spa University

Thursday, 20 March, 2025

Our campuses are known for their beautiful surroundings, no matter the season, but they’re particularly wonderful places to be when the weather is warm and sunny. With the arrival – finally! – of Spring, our BSU campuses will soon be in full bloom, and our amazing Grounds team has been hard at work helping our resident plant and wildlife come out of hibernation.  

We spoke with Grounds Manager Penny Snowden to find out what the team has been up to. 

Sprucing up our ponds  

The receptor pond at the top of Newton Park was looking a bit overgrown, so the team has finished clearing it out and making things tidier. They’ve also replaced the over liner, which stops the waterproof liner underneath from being punctured, and added some new plants, ready for returning newts to lay their eggs on when they return to the ponds a bit later in the season.  

Checking in on our neighbourhood birds 

There are over 20 bird boxes at Newton Park, placed on the buildings and nestled in the trees around campus. The team has just completed their bird box check, recording what boxes are used, and which types of birds are nesting there. (They occasionally get some squatters, such as squirrels and jackdaws.) The old nest and debris are cleared, ready for the new season.     

With the help of a few tree-climbing professionals, the team will also install a new barn owl box near the children's nursery, where a barn owl has been regularly spotted. Previously there wasn’t a barn owl box at that end of campus, so the team hopes it’ll get some new tenants. 

Springing up flowers 

This time of year you can find plenty of flowers just starting to show their colours, including winter aconites, snowdrops and crocus. 

Penny added: 

“The crocus on the banks at Commons were planted during Welcome Week. We invite students to help with this so it’s good to see them in flower for those who helped in September last year.  The ones around Hiscocks and Harrington were also planted by students in other years.” 

Growing Graduation arrangements 

Penny and her team have supplied the flower arrangements for our Winter and Summer Graduation celebrations since 2022. For our 2025 Winter Graduation, troughs were transported from the University’s glasshouse to the stage at The Forum; planters in the foyer were filled with winter flowing hellebores. These have now been planted out in the grounds, and the team add more each year.     

In the glasshouse, the team are now busy growing the pelargoniums that are used for Summer Graduation. Cuttings were taken last year and planted into troughs, where they will grow until it’s time for them to take the stage at The Forum.   

Pruning... lots of pruning! 

With all the various plant life on campus, pruning is always on the list of jobs for the Grounds team. This time of year, the team are snipping at apples, pears, peaches, vines and lots of roses.   

Penny says the climbing roses in the Italian Garden and Grand Entrance take quite a bit of sorting out. The team also cuts back the creeper in the Italian Garden with help from the Maintenance team and a cherry picker. 

New benches (from old materials) for the netball team 

This season, the team had the honour of photographing BSU’s netball team with their new benches. The benches were made by the Maintenance team using recycled timber from Newton Park. The legs were oak posts that were removed from the car park and the seating planks came from discarded materials from the recent refurbishment of the Compton music studio. 

The Grounds team is always keen to make use of the copious amounts of wood available – mostly from felled campus trees – helping to uphold our values as a sustainable university and give the trees a new life. 

Find out more about what our Grounds team gets up to on Instagram.