An Ode to Nature: Closing the Chapter in St Andrews
By Naomi
February 2025
From long walks on West Sands to exploring North Haugh pond with friends, my time at St Andrews has been nothing less than nature focused. My university experience has only been enhanced by the abundance of flora and fauna I’ve seen in my four years in St Andrews. In this blog, I will share some of my favourite memories in nature across my degree, what they have meant to me, and how you yourself can get involved with nature-based activities in St Andrews.
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Experiencing my first COP in Edinburgh
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In my first year of university, Glasgow was chosen as the next COP (Conference of the Parties) location. Having experienced climate anxiety and involving myself in environmental activities throughout high school, I was thrilled at the opportunity to experience real change happening outside my front door in Scotland. Joining a group of fellow climate activists from St Andrews, we attended the Climate March in Glasgow. Armed with a statement poster, my warmest clothes and a sense of community, I joined people from all walks of life to demand environmental change. Looking back on my hopes for COP26 after four years of further biodiversity loss and government inaction, I have now learned that the largest action happens when individual and small-scale actions create a ripple effect across university campuses and local communities.
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A map of the North Haugh Pond in St Andrews and animals found around it. From left to right: a juvenile Common Frog, a Common Darter and a Canary-Shouldered Thorn Moth.
Spotting my first hedgehog after a night out
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Since my first year of university, there have been incredible stories of students walking home after a night out and spotting small, spiky little creatures. My ultimate nature goal in St Andrews has been to see a hedgehog, however I’m usually not out late enough to spot them. Little did I know that my first spotting would not be after a night out rather after a long day trip to Edinburgh and a severely delayed train. Stumbling around St Andrews in the late hours and exhausted out of my mind, I was halted in my path as I spotted a hedgehog, scared for its life, scurrying into the next garden. I will forever remember that day as one of my best in St Andrews and that first university mammal spotting left a great impression as I continued my journey to understand and improve biodiversity awareness and connectivity.
Tracking down live beavers outside of St Andrews
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Over the summer, I had the opportunity to stay in St Andrews, working on a biodiversity-related project. However, my friends were also in St Andrews, as Biodiversity Monitoring interns, which means I got to spend time with them, while exploring the natural ‘hot spots’ of St Andrews. One particular week we had heard from a Facebook group of a Eurasian beaver hot spot near Crail. We naturally, as a group of curious, budding ecologists checked it out throughout the week and experienced our first beaver sighting! Watching this graceful mammal slither its way through the pond was miraculous and only furthered my love for the species.
Signs of spring in St Andrews
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Spring may be my favourite season in St Andrews. With the rise of snowdrops, flowers budding on all the trees (white cherry blossoms featured below), fulmars soaring the sky, and daffodils emerging from the Earth below, it gives a sense of hope and motivation to all the students ready to finish their second semester. Filled with birdsong, spring represents new opportunities, a fresh start, and a chance to experience some desparately needed sun. Everyone seems to be busy in spring, from the loud return of the curlew to busy blue tits making nests, there is never a dull moment, especially with the abundant garden and coastal birds that can be found in St Andrews. My favourite spring bird is the long-tailed tit, who roosts in packs of birds along branches and huddles together for warmth.
Long-tailed tit image (right) sourced from British Trust for Ornithology.
The first and last signs of snow in St Andrews
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Although this may be stereotyped as the worst season to be a student in St Andrews, there is a lot about winter to get excited about. Back home, snow naturally occurs annually, and I just assumed that St Andrews never received snow until my 2nd year, waking up on a crisp December morning, hearing the seabirds circling around East Sands and seeing a layer of snow on the ground. Taking a walk that day felt like paradise and being able to watch the seabirds take flight on this cold, frosty morning was an absolute delight. This past year, our VIP went on biweekly walks, whilst braving the cold, to find all sorts of winter wildlife. Some of my favourite memories include watching turnstones flip over pebbles, a common foraging habit, and listening to noisy robins, one of the UK’s most iconic birds found on nearly every Christmas card. What’s crazy to me (and what I didn’t find out until this year) is that mistletoe, although a popular Christmas plant, is actually an invasive species and survives on the water and nutrient retention of other trees. Once again, I will reiterate that there is so much left to learn from nature.
Robin image (right) sourced from BBC Wildlife Magazine.
Joining the Vertically Integrated Project: Biodiversity Literacy in my final year as an Undergraduate
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This semester, I received the opportunity to join the VIP, and I could not be happier working with a group of remarkable students and an inspiring professor, all of which push me to go outside and challenge my natural identification knowledge. This semester has not only taught me the benefits of engaging with nature conservation but that there is always room for nature education, no matter how nature-literate someone might be. Nature is constantly teaching us resiliency and adaptation, two characteristics vital for university life. In a way, university students can be compared to wildlife in many aspects. For example, myself, as well as many other students, are constantly stressing about studying and work, a characteristic shared with the pied wagtail, that is constantly on the move and always jittery. I do enjoy being social, like starlings, however, sometimes being solo is alright as well, like a grey heron. No matter how many ecology lectures I’ve sat through and how many journal papers I’ve read, nothing beats the Vertically Integrated Project. I fail going for a walk without instantly looking up to see if there are any birds I can add to my weekly list. It truly is a transformative class, that takes everything you have ever learned and thought about nature and applies it to the real world, just by being outside.
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These last four years have been turbulent with emotions of stress, frustration, joy, and excitement but the one thing constant has been my appreciation for biodiversity and the living world surrounding us. I can only imagine what my next journey will bring, hopefully carrying a small piece of St Andrews wildlife along my way.