Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

October 11, 2016

The nationally endangered Duke of Burgundy butterfly is currently one of the most rapidly declining species in the UK. In 2003, only eight Duke of Burgundy butterflies were seen in the whole of Sussex.

With some of its few remaining strongholds on South Downs’ chalk grassland one of our first major projects, the South Downs Way Ahead Nature Improvement Area, included targeted habitat management to support these butterflies. We worked with Butterfly Conservation and, in the ‘Chantry to Chanctonbury’ area annual counts rose by 398 per cent. On the Heyshott escarpment near Midhurst, peak daily counts showing an increase of 235 per cent. Read the full NIA case study.

Following this early success, in 2014 HLF funded a conservation project between the Steyning Downland Sceheme (SDS), South Downs National Park Authority and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to extend the Duke of Burgundy’s habitat all the way to Steyning.

In 2015 volunteers harvested cowslip and primrose seeds which were then whisked off for cleaning, sorting and drying at Kew’s Millenium Seed Bank. Once collected they were whisked off for cleaning, sorting and drying at Kew’s Millenium Seed Bank. The seeds were germinated and nurtured by enthusiastic volunteers from the local community.

In September 2016 nearly 40 volunteers planted 1,500 plants in prime Duke of Burgundy habitat.

Thanks to the hard work of volunteers and locals, we are keeping our fingers crossed that the Duke of Burgundy will be arriving in Steyning in spring 2017!