Flora and fauna around ETCA

Birds have a good thing going at ETCA. There are nesting boxes for house martins and swifts under some eaves and there is a nesting box for kestrels and falcons on the roof. The great diversity of flowers, insects and birds can create a small ecosystem. As a result, there may also be less nuisance from pigeons. A 5-metre-long concrete wall with holes has been erected beside the water for the kingfisher and the sand martin, they can dig their own nesting hole in it. The breeding wall on the banks of the campus was an idea of the residents of in the neighbourhood. The breeding season is from March to August and the first kingfishers were already spotted in 2020.

There are also several insect hotels in ETCA's back garden. This increases biodiversity by luring a variety of insects that can be useful for the pollination of flowers. And an insect hotel helps insects hibernate. Particularly ladybirds and butterflies use this, but solitary bees and wasps do as well.

Finally, the park on the side of the building has been made completely public and is refurbished with lots of greenery. The basis of the tree groups are tree species in the surrounding area that connect the site with the environment. Like the elms along the IJ and the treeline along the Grasweg. Classic park trees such as the oak and hedgeberry have also been added to the range. In the spring, unique bulb fields appear thanks to the 185,000 flower bulbs that have been planted.