Chalk downland occupies about two-fifths of Hampshire and has traditionally provided a rich habitat for flora and fauna. Unfortunately this landscape is constantly under threat.

Downland occurs on high chalk hills with their typical low growing, drought resistant plants. Chalk is very porous and rain quickly runs underground, creating distinctive dry valleys as well as crystal clear chalk streams like the Dever and the Test.

Although large areas of the downs were once wooded, humans have slowly cleared them over the last 10,000 years or so. This has created ideal sheep grazing country, with its characteristic close-cropped downland turf; insects, birds and animals now flourish on the species-rich grassland. The Hampshire Downs are littered with ancient hill forts and evidence of other early settlements.

Hampshire has long been noted for its varied habitat, which was immortalised by the famous naturalist Gilbert White in his Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789). William Cobbett, who published his Rural Rides in 1830, also wrote lyrically about the county.

But, by the end of the nineteenth century, concerns were being voiced about the impact of people and farming on the downlands. In his book Wildlife in the Hampshire Highlands (1899) George Dewar particularly mentions the dwindling numbers of stone curlew – a bird which can only thrive on open land.