Wildlife
Chalk grasslands support an incredibly rich and diverse flora. Originally created when the woodlands were cleared, this grassland now relies on grazing and cutting to maintain biodiversity. The thin, lime-rich soils of this grassland habitat are derived from the underlying chalk or limestone rocks, and attract plants that don't grow in other soils. Home to many beautiful orchids and wildflowers, and the insects they attract including rare blue butterflies, chalk grasslands have been in decline in the UK for the last 50 years. The best examples are found in Wiltshire, Dorset and the South Downs.
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Nature's nightshift
Summer nights lend welcome cover to grassland dwellers.
Summer nights lend welcome cover to grassland dwellers.
Creating chalklands
The fertility of chalkland came only after humans set up a relationship with the downs.
The fertility of chalkland came only after humans set up a relationship with the downs.
Beautiful blues
Being fussy makes the Adonis blue particularly vulnerable to habitat loss.
The beautiful Adonis butterfly is one of the most characteristic species of the UK's southern chalk downland, but It has suffered a huge decline in the last 200 years. Since the 1950s, over 90% have been lost in the UK. Suitable grassland has been removed, some sites have become degraded through a decline in grazing and, following the introduction of myxomatosis, the subsequent crash in rabbit populations had a detrimental effect on the conditions preferred by these somewhat particular butterflies. As rabbit populations have recovered, and land management has improved on special dedicated nature reserves, the Adonis blue has been making a partial recovery in some areas.
Sounds like skylarks
Simon King and Chris Watson record the skylark's sing-song stamina.
Simon King and Chris Watson record the skylark's sing-song stamina.
Hill and dale
Fossils reveal that there was once a tropical reef in the heart of Yorkshire.
Fossils reveal that there was once a tropical reef in the heart of Yorkshire.
Turtle dove
Kestrel
Carrion crow
Chaffinch
Crows and ravens
Magpie
Pied wagtail
Tits and chickadees
Wren
Black garden ant
Buff-tailed bumblebee
Bumblebees
European honey bee
Yellow meadow ant
Seven-spot ladybird 
Adonis blue
Brimstone
Dark green fritillary
Gossamer-winged butterflies
Large blue butterfly
Marbled white
Marsh fritillary
Painted lady
Peacock butterfly
SwallowtailCalcareous grassland (or alkaline grassland) is an ecosystem associated with thin basic soil, such as that on chalk and limestone downland. Plants on calcareous grassland are typically short and hardy, and include grasses and herbs such as clover. Calcareous grassland is an important habitat for insects, particularly butterflies, and is kept at a plagioclimax by grazing animals, usually sheep and sometimes cattle. Rabbits used to play a part but due to the onset of myxomatosis their numbers decreased so dramatically that they no longer have much of a grazing effect.
There are large areas of calcareous grassland in northwestern Europe, particularly areas of southern England, such as Salisbury Plain and the North and South Downs.
The machair forms a different kind of calcareous grassland, where fertile low-lying plains are formed on ground that is calcium-rich due to shell sand (pulverised sea shells).
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Other Terrestrial habitats
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Dandelions 
Grasses and sedges 
Hawthorn 
Horse chestnut 
Orchids 
St John's wort 
Stinging nettle 
Sycamore 
Violets and pansies 
Red fox
Rabbit
Human
Bank vole
Field vole
Garden spider