When it hums and buzzes

New biodiversity areas are currently being created on the H?nggerberg site. This is a good example of how wild bee species and other insects can be supported in urban areas.

Excavator during excavation work
Excavation work to create the new biodiversity area behind the sport centre on the H?nggerberg campus. (Image: Reto Vetterli, Plan Biodivers)

New biodiversity areas are currently being created on the H?nggerberg campus on an area of around 1000 square metres. One in the immediate vicinity of the sports centre opposite the HPP building and a larger one on Robert-Gnehm-Weg between the HPV and HCI buildings. The aim is to provide a suitable habitat for various wild bee species and to optimally fulfil their nesting and feeding requirements.

In cooperation with the external agency Kompass B, Facility Services, under the direction of Fritz Graber, has been carrying out the redesign since Monday. Various habitats are currently being created and supplemented with selected structural elements such as dead wood, piles of stones, rootstocks and amphibian hiding places.

The new sub-areas extend the existing wild bee paradise and will be connected by a small footpath in future. The excavation work and placement of the structural elements will continue until the end of November. In spring, we can look forward to a rich planting so that there will hopefully be plenty of buzzing in the summer.

3 questions for Fritz Graber ...

Portrait image of Fritz Gerber

What do you want to achieve with the new biodiversity areas?

We want to create habitats for species that tend to struggle in an urban environment. The project is embedded in the general biodiversity concept on the H?nggerberg. In addition to wild bees, this is also dedicated to hedgerow landscapes, bats, building breeders, birds and amphibians. We have already created habitats and protective measures for all of these. There is also already an area for wild bees, which is now being expanded.

Why is the location the right one?

The location along the main axis to the sports centre is well frequented and you can make many people aware of the topic; perhaps even inspire them to do something similar at home in their garden. After all, it doesn't take much to incorporate a little more biodiversity into your own garden. What I particularly like about this location is that the area previously had no use, but now has a purpose. It really helps the insect world if you can create interconnected points.

Which animals can be found there later?

Firstly, we will create shelter and nesting sites for various species of wild bees. With sand lenses and dry stone walls, there will also be elements where lizards, antlions and grasshoppers can be found. A deadwood hedge serves as a habitat for birds and small mammals and an amphibian shelter for toads, frogs and newts. In addition to all this colourful wildlife, there will also be plenty of plants and herbs, climbing aids and shrub areas.

ETH Hönggerberg building plan, with biodiversity plot locations marked
The green areas show the location of the new biodiversity areas on the H?nggerberg. Along the yellow strip, parallel maintenance work is being carried out on the hedges. (Image: ETH Zurich)

Note on the translation

This text has been translated for your convenience using a machine translation tool. Although reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, it may not be perfect. If in doubt, please refer to the German version.

Should you come upon significant translation mistakes, please send a short message to so that we can correct them. Thank you very much.

Always up to date

Would you like to always receive the most important internal information and news from ETH Zurich? Then subscribe to the "internal news" newsletter and visit Staffnet, the information portal for ETH employees.

JavaScript has been disabled in your browser