Overview
- Donations from more than 20 countries helped the Trust hit a £2.53 million target, with £330,000 raised from the public in 60 days and about £2.2 million covered by Trust funds, grants and bequests.
- The acquisition spans 138 hectares known as Giant’s Lair, including Giant Hill, a Site of Special Scientific Interest that supports 36 recorded butterfly species.
- Recruitment has begun for a local area ranger as the Trust moves into site assessment, partnership work with groups such as Butterfly Conservation, and applications for further grants.
- Plans focus on restoring chalk grassland, reconnecting fragmented habitats and planting woodland to bolster wildlife resilience, including priority species identified on the hillside.
- Re-chalking of the Cerne Giant is scheduled for early summer with staff, volunteers and selected donors packing roughly 17 tonnes of chalk to preserve the figure’s visibility, with expanded access enabling new landscape-scale archaeological research.