Totternhoe Knolls Nature Reserve – Conservation Grazing

Totternhoe Nature Reserve, at 31 hectares, is one of the largest nature reserves The Wildlife Trust BCN manage in the North Chilterns. Grazing produces a short turf that is low in nutrients and supports a diversity of specialist chalk grassland flora, including several species of orchid. It is a stronghold for the scarce Duke of Burgundy and several other butterflies.
The nature reserve at Totternhoe is a complex of former quarry sites more or less recently in use. The area known as Totternhoe Knolls is a SSSI and has been a nature reserve since the 1960s. This project aims to improve habitats there, by fencing Horton’s Field to allow conservation grazing. Controlled grazing will help the area develop a greater diversity of chalk grassland flora. It also involves scaping off topsoil in selected areas to create the conditions required by certain specialist plants and insects that colonised bare chalk.