Big Chalk Conference

Meadow saxifrage (Saxifraga granulata) features clusters of small, white, star-shaped flowers with five petals, arranged on slender stems. The plant has rosettes of rounded, green leaves with slightly crinkled edges. It typically grows in grassy meadows and rocky, open areas.

Big Chalk Conference

Big Chalk Conference

Dates: 9th – 11th September 2024
Venue: Holiday Inn Winchester

Tickets are now sold out! Please email Anna Trant if you would like to be added to the waiting list.

This major conference will, for the first time, bring together colleagues and organisations involved in creating thriving chalk and limestone landscapes across southern England.

Big Chalk is a big idea – connecting nature conservation and related activities across the chalk and limestone landscapes of southern England.

Covering 19% of England’s land area (including 26 Local Nature Recovery Strategy zones), Big Chalk seeks to demonstrate that landscape connectivity is possible on a large scale, increasing ecological resilience and helping wildlife respond to climate change.

It gives life to the Making Space for Nature principles of more, bigger, better and joined-up spaces for nature at a scale greater than most conservation frameworks. It achieves this by championing, supporting and connecting partner-led activity on the ground.

This event is organised by the National Landscapes Association and supported financially by Defra through the Protected Landscape Partnership. The Partnership brings together Natural England with the national organisations representing England’s National Landscapes, National Parks and National Trails to collaborate, share knowledge and tackle common objectives including nature recovery and public access.

Monday 9th September

1pm: Lunch and registration

2pm to 5pm: Welcome to the conference

  • Welcome. Nick Johannsen, Chair of the Big Chalk partnership
  • Setting the scene: What can Big Chalk achieve? Bruce Winney, National Landscapes Association
  • The political and funding landscape: how we might go about making it work. Edel McGurk, Natural England.
  • The value of the Big Chalk partnership. Sarah Jackson, Limestone Link
  • Refreshments and networking break
  • Keynote: Professor Sir John Lawton - Making space for nature: past, present and future

5.30pm to 7pm: Visit to the Butterfly Conservation's Winchester site

7.30pm for 8pm: Dinner at the Holiday Inn

Tuesday 10th September

All day: Field trips

  • Hinton Ampner Estate, South Downs National Park
  • Winterbourne Downs and the Stonehenge Estate
  • Great Bustards, Martin Down NNR and Cranborne Chase
  • Pewsey Downs and North Wessex Downs
  • Aston Rowant NNR and Hambledon Valley

7pm for 7.30pm: Dinner at the Holiday Inn

9pm: Dark Skies session by Cranborne Chase National Landscape at Winchester Science Museum and Planetarium.

Wednesday 11th September

9:15am: Workshop sessions

  • Ensuring existing and emerging payment schemes deliver for Big Chalk
  • Connecting nature's recovery through LNRSs and across Big Chalk
  • Innovating for nature 1 - re-imagining monitoring and evaluation techniques
  • Innovating for nature 2 - early successional and mosaic habitats
  • Designing a shared future - Big Chalk's programme to 2030
  • Big Chalk's role in meeting 30by30 targets
  • Refreshments and networking break
  • Second workshop session

12 noon: Lunch

1pm to 3pm: Panel discussion and closing session

  • Panel discussion: Making Big Chalk happen - how do we make the vision a reality?
  • Panellists include:
    • Drew Bennellick, National Lottery Heritage Fund
    • Alicia Gibson, Finance Earth
    • Sion McGeever, Defra
    • Edel McGurk, Natural England
    • Dan Ross, Southern Water
  • Closing session:
    • Jo Lewis, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust
    • Simon Smith, Cotswolds National Landscape
    • Nick Johannsen, Chair of the Big Chalk partnership
05 September 2024
Event
View the full programme