News story: BBC Springwatch at Porton Down

The current series of BBC Springwatch features two special items about flora and fauna which were filmed recently at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s (Dstl) Porton Down site.

Porton Down will be featured in tonight’s episode, due to be broadcast this evening at 7:30pm on BBC Two. It will look at some of the animals that make their home amongst the chalk grasslands of Porton Down’s ranges.

A previous episode, which aired on Thursday 8 June, featured the flora that flourishes on the site, including the rare Lady Orchid. It is now available to watch on BBC iPlayer

Porton Down is one of, if not the, best-preserved chalk grasslands in Europe. The low level of human impact and development has enabled the man-made, semi-natural grassland to flourish and encourage a wide range of biodiversity. As a result, Porton Down boasts many rare species such as the Lady Orchid, the Duke of Burgundy butterfly and the Stone Curlew.

The programmes look at the many ways in which the wildlife flourishes and discuss the reasons for such an abundance of biodiversity. They also explore the relationships between the plants and animals, specifically insects and other invertebrates, as well as describing some of the various plant species that thrive on the plain.