A report on Salisbury Plain and Dorset Downs

Stonehenge, the most famous antiquity on Salisbury Plain
The top of the downs from above Cerne Abbas, looking south east towards the River Piddle valley
Rough map of military training area (green) on Salisbury Plain within Wiltshire (blue) (it accounts for about half the area of Salisbury Plain)
Map of Dorset, including the Dorset Downs, showing the geology
Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain
Military use makes some areas of the plain inaccessible to the public.
Typical grassland at Netheravon Down.
The burnt-tip orchid (Neotinea ustulata) can be found on Salisbury Plain
The Duke of Burgundy butterfly (Hamearis lucina)
The cuckoo bee Nomada armata
The fairy shrimp Chirocephalus diaphanus
The stone curlew

The downs are the most western part of a larger chalk formation which also includes (from west to east) Cranborne Chase, Salisbury Plain, Hampshire Downs, Chiltern Hills, North Downs and South Downs.

- Dorset Downs

The Hampshire Downs and the Berkshire Downs are chalk downland to the east and north of Salisbury Plain, and the Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase are to the southwest.

- Salisbury Plain
Stonehenge, the most famous antiquity on Salisbury Plain

3 related topics with Alpha

Overall
Location of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB in the UK

Cranborne Chase

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Chalk plateau in central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire.

Chalk plateau in central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire.

Location of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB in the UK
Ashmore pond
Badbury Rings hill fort

The plateau is part of the English Chalk Formation and is adjacent to Salisbury Plain and the West Wiltshire Downs in the north, and the Dorset Downs to the south west.

Culver Down, Isle of Wight

Downland

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Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs.

Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs.

Culver Down, Isle of Wight
Galium verum (L.) Lady's Bedstraw, a typical English chalk downland plant

The largest area of downland in southern England is formed by Salisbury Plain, mainly in Wiltshire.

To the southwest, downlands continue via Cranborne Chase into Dorset as the Dorset Downs and southwards through Hampshire as the Hampshire Downs onto the Isle of Wight.

Brass Point, one of the Seven Sisters

Chalk Group

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Lithostratigraphic unit (a certain number of rock strata) which contains the Upper Cretaceous limestone succession in southern and eastern England.

Lithostratigraphic unit (a certain number of rock strata) which contains the Upper Cretaceous limestone succession in southern and eastern England.

Brass Point, one of the Seven Sisters
The Needles, (Isle of Wight); part of southern England's extensive chalk outcrop.
Fossil echinoid Echinocorys from the Chalk Group of England
Contact between two units of the lithostratigraphy of South England: the Chalk Group (left, white, upper unit) and the Greensand Formation (right, green, lower unit). Location: Lulworth Cove, near West Lulworth, Dorset, England.
The Wealden Anticline.
Ivinghoe Beacon, Chiltern Hills

The broadly western margin of the Chalk outcrop is marked, from northeast to southwest, to south by the Chalk downlands of the Yorkshire Wolds, the Lincolnshire Wolds, a subdued feature through western Norfolk, including Breckland, the Chiltern Hills, the Berkshire Downs, Marlborough Downs and the western margins of Salisbury Plain and Cranborne Chase and the North and South Dorset Downs.