Buskett is a wide and extensive valley system that supports several habitat types, the most familiar being the semi-natural woodland at Buskett Gardens and Verdala Palace area, consisting predominantly of aleppo pines and carob trees. The area also supports several orchid species.

The less familiar habitat types of Buskett, albeit equally important from an ecological perspective, are:

• The holm oak (Quercus ilex) remnant forest at Il-Bosk and maquis communities;

• Seasonal freshwater spring and watercourse vegetation; and

• Riparian community based on willows, poplar and elm.

Buskett woodland, only one of a handful of such habitat types within the Maltese islands, is very important for many woodland and wood-associating species including invertebrates and macrofungi (mycoflora), as well as for those associated with leaf-litter. A number of insects, woodlice and spiders are only known from Buskett or from a handful of other places in the Maltese islands.

The area is also very important from an ornithological point of view, serving as a roosting ground for many migratory raptor species such as falcons (Falco spp.), harriers (Circus spp.) and buzzards (Buteo spp.), among others.

Mepa scheduled the biodiversity-rich Buskett as an Area of Ecological Importance, a Site of Scientific Importance and an Area of High Landscape Value as per Government Notice No. 403/96 in the Government Gazette dated June 25, 1996.