Rechalking beloved Cerne Giant is a sticky process – and climate crisis is making it worse

The Cerne Giant is restored every seven to 10 years but recently visitors have complained that it is not bright enough. Photograph: Jim Wileman/The Guardian

For centuries, the custodians of the Cerne Giant have clambered up the dizzyingly steep hill every decade or so to rechalk the outline, making sure the hulking figure can be seen far and wide across the rolling Dorset countryside.

But the painstaking job, which involves hacking out the grubby old chalk by hand and packing in fresh, felt all the more urgent this week because effects put down to the climate emergency are making the giant a little duller and perhaps a touch more fragile.