Historic permanent grassland.

On campus Schoonmeersen, between building B and the R4, you’ll find a patch of grassland thay may look ordinary at first glance. But this area was once part of the vast natural landscape known as ‘Schoon Meersche’. This historic permanent grassland has remained undisturbed for centuries and has never been ploughed. Over all those years, a significant amount of carbon has been stored in the soil, making this grassland more effective at combating climate change in its current state than if we were to plant trees on it.

With thoughtful grassland management, we protect valuable native plants like the cuckooflower and the bird’s-foot trefoil, which attract butterflies such as the orange tip and the common blue.