Nature Around Halls: It's All Around You
Posted 1 day ago
Mon 19 Oct, 2026 12:10 AM
You don't need hiking boots, binoculars or a trip to the countryside to find nature.
Sometimes you just need to look up, slow down and notice what's already there.
A bird calling from a tree. A squirrel disappearing across the grass. A bumblebee working its way around a flowerbed. A tree you've walked underneath dozens of times without really seeing.
And after dark, another world begins to emerge.
An owl calling somewhere beyond the lights. A fox slipping silently across a familiar path.
Throughout our Nature Around Halls series, we've met some of the wild neighbours sharing our University surroundings.
But they're not really separate stories.
They're all connected.
🌿 A Campus Full of Life
University life can be busy.
There are lectures to reach, assignments to finish, people to meet and notifications constantly demanding attention.
It's very easy to move through campus focusing only on where you're going next.
But look around and another community is going about its daily life alongside ours.
Birds are calling, feeding and moving through trees and green spaces. Squirrels are racing between branches and searching for food. Bees and butterflies are visiting flowers and helping plants reproduce. Trees provide food, shelter and habitat for countless living things.
And when daylight fades:
Owls take over the night shift and Foxes quietly explore the city they have both made our home.
The University actively creates and enhances green spaces across its campuses for wildlife and the University community. University of Southampton Sustainability
🌿 Once You Notice One Thing...
Something interesting happens when you start paying attention to nature.
You spot one bird and suddenly you begin hearing birds everywhere.
You notice a bee on a flower and start seeing which flowers the insects seem to prefer.
You look up at a tree and discover there's a squirrel watching the world from one of its branches.
Once you start noticing one part of nature, you begin noticing the rest.
And perhaps that's what this entire series has really been about.
Not learning the name of every bird, tree or butterfly.
Simply noticing.
💙 Student Scenario
You're walking the same route you've taken dozens of times before.
But today feels slightly different.
You hear a bird calling and look up.
That makes you notice the tree it's sitting in. A bumblebee is moving between flowers nearby. Then something rustles through the branches and a squirrel appears.
Nothing around you has suddenly changed.
You have.
You're paying attention.
And an ordinary walk back to halls has become a little more interesting.
🌿 Find Your Green Space
You don't have to go far to spend time outdoors.
Our existing Halls Life guide highlights places including Southampton Common, Valley Gardens on Highfield Campus and Riverside Park near Wessex Lane Halls. Green spaces near you
But your own green space can be much smaller.
It might be:
- The trees outside your halls
- A quiet bench on campus
- A patch of grass between lectures
- A favourite walking route
- Somewhere you stop with a coffee
- Even the view from your bedroom window
You don't have to turn connecting with nature into another task on your to-do list.
Just give yourself permission occasionally to stop.
💚 Try This Today
Take a five-minute nature break.
Put your phone away and step outside.
Then notice:
👀 Five things you can see
👂 Four things you can hear
🌿 Three natural things around you
You don't need to identify them.
You don't need to photograph them.
And you certainly don't need to post them anywhere.
Just notice them.
💛 Did You Know?
Southampton University Students' Union (SUSU) manages two wildflower meadows on Highfield Campus, which provide habitat for plants and pollinators including bumblebees, solitary bees and hoverflies.
So even areas students may walk past without a second thought can be supporting another little community altogether.
🌿 Explore Nature Around Halls
Fancy meeting some of your wild neighbours?
🐦 Look Up! The Birds Living Around Halls Discover some of the feathered neighbours sharing your everyday journeys.
🐿️ The Squirrels of Southampton Meet campus' cheekiest residents and their surprisingly familiar habits.
🦉 Owls After Dark Discover the silent hunters you may never see but might hear.
🦊 Foxes After Dark: Our Urban Neighbours Meet the mysterious night-time residents sharing our city.
🌳 Trees on Campus: Look Up Slow down and discover the nature growing around you.
🐝🦋 The Pollinators Around Campus Meet the small creatures doing some surprisingly important work.
Final Thoughts
We began Nature Around Halls by looking at individual animals and pieces of the natural world.
But perhaps the biggest discovery is that none of them exists entirely on its own.
Trees support insects and birds. Flowers attract pollinators. Green spaces provide food and shelter. Daytime wildlife gives way to animals that emerge after dark.
And right among all of it are us.
Students walking to lectures, returning to halls, eating lunch outside, studying by windows and rushing from one place to another.
Nature doesn't necessarily require a special journey.
Sometimes it's underneath your window.
Sometimes it's in the tree above your head.
Sometimes it crosses your path when you're walking home.
So wherever university life takes you, every now and then, slow down, look up and notice what's living alongside you.
Nature around halls isn't somewhere else. It's right here.
