School children from Buckinghamshire will have a starring role on the BBC's Countryfile this weekend. Pupils from Juniper Hill School in Flackwell Heath will appear on the show on Sunday, May 3 night, demonstrating how they have helped save a rare butterfly in the county.
The young nature enthusiasts have been assisting the Chiltern Rangers and national charity Butterfly Conservation in rescuing the endangered Duke of Burgundy by cultivating its preferred flowers. For the Countryfile episode, filmed at a privately-owned site near Princes Risborough this April, the children brought cowslips they had grown at school and planted them for the butterfly's hungry caterpillars to feed on. The butterflies only lay their eggs on cowslips and primroses, making these plants a valuable addition to the precious plot of rare habitat.
Juniper Hill headteacher Claire Garnett said: "We had the best day filming with Countryfile. Zoe - one of our children who was filmed – said she had the best day in her whole life ever! We feel so privileged to have been included. We love seeing Nick from Butterfly Conservation when we go out and about and really value our relationship with the charity and the Chiltern Rangers."
Nick Bowles and other volunteers from Butterfly Conservation's Upper Thames Branch have been working with the Chiltern Rangers to protect Duke of Burgundy habitat in Buckinghamshire for years. This beautiful butterfly, which has vibrant orange patterns on its wings, was once much more common across the UK, but since 1982 its distribution has plummeted by 89%, largely because of habitat loss.
Butterfly Conservation and the Chiltern Rangers have worked with landowners, including the National Trust and Thames Water, to protect existing populations and create new habitat with plenty of primroses and copious cowslips. Now, the work has been given a valuable cash injection: Butterfly Conservation recently received a £75,000 grant for a three-year project to map the species across the whole of the Chilterns.
The charity has appointed butterfly ecologist Dr Caroline Bulman, who is gathering evidence of where the Dukes are currently living and feeding. She will then recommend how isolated colonies could be joined up with new habitat to make the whole population more stable and resilient. Butterfly Conservation will also be training landowners in the Chilterns how to spot the telltale signs of leaf-damage from Duke of Burgundy caterpillars.
Steven Lofting, Butterfly Conservation's South-East England conservation manager, added: "This is a huge opportunity for us, and this Countryfile episode is a fantastic way to kick it all off. The Duke of Burgundy is one of those really special butterflies that is beautiful to look at but almost extremely hard to see, and we're so lucky to still have this population in the Chilterns. If local people can help us to map these colonies and stabilise the population, then one day they could be a sight that a lot more people can enjoy in this area."
Anyone interested in volunteering with Butterfly Conservation can email Steven on slofting@butterfly-conservation.org.
