Connecting the Duke Across the Chiltern Hills

Aim

To connect four isolated Duke of Burgundy colonies by restoring the scrubby grassland and sunny clearings they need to survive and thrive.

In the iconic Chiltern Hills, the Duke of Burgundy butterfly survives in a scattering of isolated colonies, with four key populations forming the fragile core of one of its remaining strongholds in the UK.

Once common across England, this small, vibrant butterfly has suffered a 46% population decline and an 89% loss in distribution in just 45 years, a fall driven by the loss and deterioration of the specialised habitats it depends on. Without this larger scale project in the Chilterns, this noble little butterfly faces an uncertain future.

The Duke is a true habitat specialist. Its caterpillars rely on primroses and cowslips, and adults need warm, sheltered grassland with just the right amount of scrub. As these habitats have been lost or mismanaged, the Duke has disappeared from much of its former range. Overgrown scrub, over‑managed slopes and shrinking species‑rich grasslands have fragmented populations and pushed this beautiful butterfly to the brink.

But there is hope, and that hope depends on you.  

Where habitats are restored, the Duke can recover. In Kent, careful scrub management and targeted planting transformed its prospects, growing the population from just two known sites in 2003 to more than a dozen today. In the North York Moors, early landscape‑scale restoration stabilised fragile colonies and brought the Duke back to slopes where it had almost vanished.

With your support, the Duke of Burgundy’s success story can continue.

Four isolated colonies of the butterfly have been identified across the Chiltern Hills, an area known for its open chalk grasslands and ancient woodlands. With careful management, this area has everything the Duke needs to flourish. 

Butterfly Conservation has the knowledge and expertise to restore these habitats and connect the scattered colonies, creating the high‑quality grassland corridors the Duke needs to move, breed and thrive. The colonies are mapped, the habitat is understood, and the work is ready to begin, we just need your help to make it happen.

Your donation today could help support the landscape-scale conservation work the Duke of Burgundy needs, to have the best possible chance of expanding across the hills.

For years, dedicated volunteers in the Upper Thames Branch have worked tirelessly to protect the Duke, planting cowslips, restoring slopes and caring for these remaining colonies. Their commitment is the reason the Duke has held on here for so long. 

This is a turning point. With your help, we can create living corridors of primroses, cowslips and sunlight‑warmed slopes to help connect these isolated colonies. With your support, we can help the Duke take flight across the Chilterns.

Please give a donation today, and be part of the continuing success of this beautiful butterfly. Together, we can create a butterfly effect for nature in the Chilterns.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 13th July 2026 at 5:00pm