Gog Magogs Chalk Recovery Project

The aim of the project is to restore and manage chalk grassland habitats and their associated species on nature reserves and in the wider countryside on the Gog Magog Hills south of Cambridge. Nationally, the cover of lowland chalk grassland has suffered a sharp decline in extent over the last 50 years, and Cambridgeshire has mirrored this trend, with just 641 hectares remaining. Historically, agricultural intensification was the main cause of decline, but the major threat today is lack of appropriate management resulting in the dominance of coarse grasses and invasion by scrub and woodland. This project will restore and protect several County Wildlife Sites and two chalk grassland nature reserves, and work towards linking up habitat patches so that wildlife can move in order to cope with environmental pressures such as climate change.