Organisations, land managers and communities across southern England are being invited to turn their ambitions for nature into action, as the Big Chalk Nature Recovery Fund opens for its next round of projects.
Grants of up to £100,000 – with larger awards available for exceptional projects – are available for work to restore and reconnect some of the UK’s most important chalk and limestone landscapes.
Hosted by the National Landscapes Association, Big Chalk brings together more than 150 organisations with a shared vision to create nature-rich chalk and limestone landscapes that benefit all of us.
What began as a partnership of protected landscapes has grown into an ambitious nature recovery programme connecting national targets with action on the ground. The National Landscapes Association is proud to host and support the Big Chalk team and a programme that demonstrates what can be achieved through collaboration at scale.
The Big Chalk programme is funded through the Protected Landscapes Partnership, supported by Defra, but was created with a wider ambition. Through additional Defra investment, the programme can support projects across southern England’s chalk and limestone landscapes, including places and communities beyond the boundaries of protected landscapes. By connecting work across National Landscapes, National Parks and the areas between them, Big Chalk helps ensure nature recovery happens at the scale needed to deliver lasting change.
With the first round of funding already bringing projects to life, and this next round opening the door to even more ambitious work, the future for chalk and limestone landscapes is increasingly one of hope and possibility
John Watkins, Chief Executive, National Landscapes Association
John Watkins, Chief Executive of National Landscapes Association, said: “To see how far Big Chalk has come, and to have played a part in that journey, is something extraordinarily special. From those first conversations between a passionate few who recognised the urgent need to protect and restore these iconic landscapes, ambition, collaboration and determination have been at the heart of this programme.
“With the first round of funding already bringing projects to life, and this next round opening the door to even more ambitious work, the future for chalk and limestone landscapes is increasingly one of hope and possibility. That is testament to the people driving Big Chalk forward, and to what can be achieved when organisations and communities come together around a shared ambition for nature.”
The first Expressions of Interest for the latest round of the Big Chalk Nature Recovery Fund are already progressing to full applications, but funding is still available. Environmental charities, farmers, land managers and landowners, community groups, local authorities, parish and town councils, educational institutions managing land, and collaborative partnerships are among those being encouraged to bring forward ideas.
Projects can range from local habitat creation and restoration to ambitious landscape-scale initiatives, with several funding tiers available. Funding must support capital investment, including habitat creation, equipment and infrastructure, that will deliver lasting benefits for nature.
And previous rounds show just how broad those benefits can be
Globally rare chalk streams are among the habitats already benefiting from the Nature Recovery Fund. Around 85% of the world’s chalk streams are found in England, yet many have been degraded by pollution, modification and fragmentation.
Big Chalk-backed work is helping re-naturalise these important waterways, reconnect rivers with surrounding habitats and create healthier, more resilient ecosystems for wildlife including water voles, brown trout and aquatic invertebrates.
Restoring chalk streams can also bring wider benefits, from improving water quality and reducing flood risk to creating spaces where communities can connect with nature.
Putting communities at the heart of recovery
Nature recovery needs people as well as places. Across Big Chalk landscapes, communities and volunteers are restoring grasslands and woodlands, monitoring wildlife and developing the skills and knowledge needed to care for these landscapes over the long term.
Nature Recovery Fund investment has helped turn local enthusiasm into practical action by supporting habitat works, equipment and locally led projects.
The result is not only healthier habitats, but stronger connections between people and the landscapes around them – building local knowledge, stewardship and capacity that can sustain nature recovery well beyond individual projects.
Supporting nature-friendly farming
With farmland covering much of southern England’s chalk and limestone landscape, farmers and land managers have a crucial role to play.
Previous funding has supported practical measures that demonstrate how productive farming and nature recovery can work together. Hedgerows, species-rich grasslands, pollinator margins, adaptive grazing and river buffers can reconnect fragmented habitats while supporting soil health, water retention, pollination and resilience to climate change.
By creating wildlife corridors through working landscapes, these projects are helping turn isolated pockets of habitat into larger, connected ecological networks – while keeping farming and land management at their heart.
Creating spaces for species to recover
Chalk and limestone landscapes support some of the UK’s most distinctive wildlife, including specialist butterflies, orchids and ground-nesting birds.
Nature Recovery Fund projects have supported targeted habitat management designed around the needs of these species, combining practical conservation with research, monitoring and specialist expertise.
Helping individual species recover also tells a much bigger story. Thriving populations are signs of healthier habitats and stronger ecological networks – creating landscapes better able to support wildlife and adapt to a changing climate.
The breadth of projects supported so far demonstrates the principle at the heart of Big Chalk: nature recovery works best when individual interventions connect to something bigger.
The new funding round is looking for projects across southern England's chalk and limestone geology, from Dorset to Norfolk, encompassing habitats including species-rich grasslands, ancient woodland and chalk streams.
Projects should create, restore or connect wildlife-rich habitats, support priority species and deliver lasting gains for nature. Collectively, that work can also contribute to the Government's 30by30 ambition for at least 30% of England's land to be effectively managed for nature by 2030.
Whether it is a focused intervention in a local habitat or an ambitious project working across an entire landscape, the Nature Recovery Fund offers an opportunity to turn ideas into practical action.
The first projects are already moving through the application process, but there is still funding available. If you have an idea that could help restore, reconnect or create space for nature across southern England’s chalk and limestone landscapes, visit here
The Big Chalk programme and Nature Recovery Fund is funded through the Protected Landscapes Partnership, supported by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).
