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Aldbury Nowers

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 in winterAldbury 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 Shetlands.

Aldbury Nowers - Summer

The sunny weather has greatly benefitted butterflies, with lots of marbled whites, meadow browns and ringlets being seen over the last few weeks. The first large skipper was seen on 2/06 and there are now many skippers flying around which can test your identification skills.

Dark green fritillaries can be seen flying fast over the grassland, try any of the enclosures for a sighting of these beautiful orange butterflies. They can often be seen nectaring on thistles. The larger silver washed fritillary can be seen along the Ridgeway in the open areas of the woodland. Both fritillaries have beautifully marked underwings which provide a good way of identifying them when resting. The unrelated but similar comma can also be seen in these glades but is smaller and has jagged wing edges.

A hummingbird hawkmoth has been seen (w/c 12/07/10) in the furthest northern enclosure, nectaring from flowers during the day. Look out for a small, fast flying moth which does resemble a hummingbird! It was still present this week (w/c 19/07), flying around very fast.

Large skipperDark green fritillary

Marbled white butterflyMale silver washed fritillary

With leaves covering the trees and bird song dying down birds are becoming harder to spot. The odd blackcap and whitethroat are still singing together with chiffchaff. Many birds are nesting around the reserve and will be busy feeding young over the next few weeks. Look out for the mistle thrush which often feed amongst the grassland flowers and can look surprisingly large when they fly off.

A particularly beautiful flower to look out for is the horseshoe vetch, which is very obvious in short grassland. Sorrel (the food plant of the small copper butterfly) is growing throughout the enclosures and on very bare ground look for the tiny fumitory. Small clusters of harebells can be found in shorter areas of grassland and the white flowered valerian has started to appear, which is heavily scented. Wild thyme also has a beautiful smell and thanks to all the management work on the reserve has started to appear in the southern enclosures.

Horseshoe vetchHorseshoe vetch in grassland

How to Get Here

Location

Off Northfield Road, Tring

Directions

From Tring town centre take Station Road to Tring Station and Aldbury. Just beyond the railway bridge bear left (north) and the reserve entrance is about 1km along this lane with parking in a layby. Walk to the reserve via the chestnut avenue leading away from the road.

Public Transport Links

Bus stop and trains at Tring station: 10 minutes walk to the reserve.

Walking Links

Map Reference

SP 950130

Visitor Guide

Size

Access to site

Open access

Access around site

Walking time

Advice on what to wear/bring

Map of site (if available)