The Animal Residents
Although the size of the gardens is generous, although not extensive, they remain home and pit-stop to a surprising variety of wildlife.
The work of several generations of dedicated Environment Representatives has seen the acquisition of a variety of different items to help encourage the biodiversity. For those who habitually frequent the grounds, the benefits of these things is seen.
In some instances, the animals form as much a part of the community of Deans Court as the students do.
Hedgehogs
Deans Court has a strong history as a home and way-station to hedgehogs.
As of 2019, there was only one resident hedgehog, Horace - perhaps the most infamous and widely known amongst residents. In previous years, however, alumni remember whole families of hedgehogs running over the lawns in a string.
Horace
Horace has been a resident of the garden for a good number of years. Although there has been some debate over Horace's gender - when a "Baby Horace" accompanied its parent who was assumed to be the original Horace - the name has stuck.
In 2019, Horace's evening supper route around the garden was figured out. Although it is not known where he sleeps overnight or if he comes into the garden from elsewhere, he begins from the right side of the garden, following the path around the garden and weaving in and out across the gravel and amongst the ivy of covering the garden beds.
When he's around, it's possible to hear him in the ivy, much like a person walking through the leaves, and his snuffling and the sound of munching slugs if you stand quietly on the lawn.
Slugs are not the only thing that Horace is partial to, however, having exhibited a taste for wet cat food on the proviso it isn't fish-flavoured.
Hedgehog Houses
In the autumn of 2017, the old tool shed in the garden was removed. It was speculated that this was where Horace wintered, as he had been seen entering the shed through a hole, and as a result the removable of it was cause for some concern about Horace's safety and whether he would return after winter.
In order to help combat the loss of Horace's home, when some hedgehog houses were seen in Morrisons in early 2018, the committee purchased two, installing them well hidden in the shrubs around the garden, and hidden under dry leaves. In 2019, an additional house was added to the grounds, and a camera installed to better observe the comings and goings of the animal neighbours.
Garden Slab
In 2019, following the discovery of the route that Horace takes around the garden, this slab was purchased.
Horace, after taking a anti-clockwise circuit of the main garden, before coming through the side garden and up the steps into the vegetable garden, where he passes under the fence and into the garden of the Roundel.
As a marker of his last stop in Deans Court on his nightly dinner wanderings, this slab was laid in the vegetable garden.
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Bats
Although there is no certainty that the bats that frequent Deans Court live in any of the nooks and crannies around the buildings, they, much like Horace, put in an appearance in the evenings for their dinner.
The bats are only small, guessed to be common pipistrelles, and if residents come into the garden or courtyard at the right time in the evening before darkness fully sets in, the bats will circle and wheel by, catching insects drawn to body heat.
There are at least two regular visiting bats, sometimes up to four, and in 2019, the Environment Representative, Sadbh Kellet, led residents in making four bat boxes with the help of members of the Transition team.
Birds
Deans Court has always been home to a large variety of bird life. In recent years this has been encouraged with the purchase of two bird feeders, a bird swing, a cage for nuts and suet seed balls, and a bird house.
The majority of the feathered residents and visitors tend to be small British birds, but as with all the chimneys of St Andrews, seagulls make their presence known. For a time in 2019 the garden was also home to a trio of ducks, thought to be those that frequent Market Street.
Springtime sees the fledglings emerge, with bluetits nesting in crevices of the north wall, and the blackbirds using the vegetable garden as a nursery. This latter happened so much so in 2019 that the first raspberries that the canes produced became meals for the baby blackbirds.
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Rabbits
Although by no means a permanent fixture of the garden (and very probably to the relief of Estates and the Environment Representatives), the rabbits that occasionally visit Deans Court are much like the human tourists - brief passersby.
In 2018, when the Beast From the East swept the town, and indeed all of the United Kingdom, a few rabbits made their way over from the sand dunes on East Sands and took shelter in the garden. Their appearance was brief, and shrouded in mist, but some few residents spotting the family.