The future of one of England's most unique habitats could rest with play areas designed for children to interact with the rare environment, a science centre hopes.
More than eight in 10 of the world's chalk streams are found in England, but the current prolonged hot and dry weather puts pressure on the wildlife that calls the rare waterways home.
Winchester Science Centre, in Hampshire, has now created a play zone themed on the local landscape in the hope children will connect with the environments into adulthood.
It comes as the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) threw its support behind a new Westminster group hoping to protect chalk streams.
According to the science centre, the chalk stream exhibit allows children to explore "why water flow, temperature and oxygen matter to one of the world's rarest freshwater habitats".
"In the surrounding chalk grassland, they can discover how plants and insects cope with extreme heat, and why shade, varied vegetation and connected habitats can provide vital refuges for wildlife."
