A military training ground with tanks rushing around, explosions and gunfire hardly seems like a haven for wild plants, but the Ministry of Defence’s Salisbury Plain site is exceptional.
The training ground is the largest remaining area of semi-natural chalk turf left in north-west Europe, an area of 150 square miles (380 sq km), the size of the Isle of Wight. It is the home of rare plants unique to limestone and one of the richest ecosystems for plant diversity in Europe.
The army used Salisbury Plain for over 100 yearsso the land escaped the ravages of intensive agriculture, including fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and plowing. Perhaps most surprising is how in-ground tanks help create diverse habitats, especially where bare chalk is exposed and colonized by specialized plants, such as kidney sedges and small sedges.
It is a hotspot for the critically endangered pink-flowered red hemp nettle, which grows along the edges of the tank paths, and the viper’s bug, which thrives with its deep blue flowers where the soil is raked up and the plant’s seeds are spread by the vehicles.
