Lead organisation
Partner organisations
Project description
What does climate change look like on the ground? Wild Clocks is finding out by observing how landscapes change, season by season and year after year.
Wild Clocks is a long-term project building a network of place-based environmental archives to document how Britain's woodlands and associated habitats respond to a changing climate. Combining continuous environmental monitoring with repeat photography and ecological observations, it records changes in local climate, seasonal patterns and habitats over time.
Each archive brings these observations together in one place, creating a growing record that can be explored by researchers, land managers and the wider public. By working across multiple sites, Wild Clocks aims to reveal not only how individual landscapes are changing, but how their responses differ from place to place.
Within Big Chalk, the project will focus on chalk landscapes, developing a network of observation sites and a consistent approach to documenting change over time.
Project location
Wild Clocks' contribution to Big Chalk will focus on chalk landscapes across Oxfordshire and Wiltshire, primarily within the North Wessex Downs National Landscape and the Upper Thames catchment.
Initial work is centred on sites close to Oxford, with the ambition to expand westwards along the chalk ridge towards Swindon and Marlborough. These landscapes offer a range of conditions, from differences in aspect and soil depth to variations in habitat and management.
By working across this geography, Wild Clocks aims to document how local conditions and seasonal patterns differ across the chalk landscape, building a connected picture of change from place to place and over time.
Weather station equipment
Contribution to Big Chalk
Wild Clocks supports the Big Chalk vision by providing a consistent way to observe and document how chalk landscapes respond to climate change.
Combining environmental measurements, repeat photography and ecological observations, the project will build a long-term record of changing conditions across chalk grassland and associated habitats. These archives can complement practical nature recovery projects, helping researchers and land managers understand how changing climate conditions interact with habitat management and restoration.
The project also reflects Big Chalk's collaborative approach, working with land managers and partners to establish observation sites and build a shared understanding of change. As the network develops, there is potential to involve communities through citizen science and public engagement, encouraging people to observe and contribute to the long-term record of their local landscapes.
Do you have a project that could strengthen the future of southern England’s iconic chalk and limestone landscapes?
The Big Chalk programme brings together a dynamic suite of partner-led projects, each unique in its focus, area, and partnerships but sharing a commitment to our collective vision.
If your project contributes to the Big Chalk mission, we invite you to register it as a Big Chalk Project. Registered projects gain access to networking, shared learning, and best practice—alongside the Big Chalk brand, boosting your profile and connecting you to a powerful, growing network of partners.
Together, these projects form a united effort to secure the future of southern England’s chalk and limestone landscapes, making a lasting impact for nature and communities.