duchies piece

Situated on the Chiltern escarpment and adjoining The Ridgeway National Trail with superb views across the Tring Gap and Vale of Aylesbury, this reserve supports splendid flora and over twenty-five species of butterfly.

Aldbury Nowers (previously known as Duchie's Piece) comprises two areas of hillside linked by The Ridgeway. The warm south-facing slopes host the small but beautiful flowers of chalk grassland including common milkwort, common rock rose, clustered bellflower and lady's bedstraw.

The reserve is one of the finest butterfly habitats in Hertfordshire with Essex skippers, marbled whites, green hairstreak, brown argus, and the scarce grizzled and dingy skippers. It is also very good for other invertebrates such as solitary bees and wasps.

Birds include large flocks of redwing, fieldfare and mixed finches during the winter, when a sparrowhawk may be glimpsed as it attempts to single out small birds from these flocks.

The Trust works with the owner, the National Trust, and the reserve is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Constant management is undertaken by the Trust to prevent the important areas of short turf from being overgrown with rank grasses, scrub and encroaching woodland. This is achieved through selective clearance and careful grazing by older breeds of sheep such as Hebrideans.