Buttler’s Hangings
A key site for nature
Forming part of the West Wycombe Estate, the site is situated off Slough Lane between West Wycombe village and Saunderton.
Buttler’s Hangings is a SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), designated as such for its spiders, chalk grassland flowers and, of course, its rare butterflies including the Chalkhill Blue, Dark Green Fritillary, and Silver Spotted Skipper. It is a bank of south-west facing chalk grassland, where the scrub is always trying to take over. Our task is to keep the chalk grassland open for its unique wildlife, managing the scrub to keep it in balance with the grasses and wildflowers. Our work there is also part of a wider project to extend the available habitat for another rare butterfly found in other sites in the Chilterns, the Duke of Burgundy.
Our work on the site is in close collaboration with our friends at Butterfly Conservation Upper Thames Branch.
View more details on the Buttler’s Hangings Facebook Page.
Thanks to James Ford for this delightful artwork of Buttler’s Hangings. It has been produced as a painting and is looking very happy in it’s new home. Have a look when you’re next there.
Wildlife Highlights
We carry out our scrub clearance during (mainly) bright and cold winter days and can often spot Red Kite, Buzzard, Kestrel, Green Woodpecker, Yellowhammer, Raven, and Roe deer.
If you visit in the spring and summer, you may be lucky enough to spot an abundance of wildflowers and invertebrates which have previously been recorded on the site:
An array of wonderful wildflowers can be found, including Kidney and Horseshoe Vetch, Wild Candytuft and Chiltern Gentian.
One of the more exciting developments at the site has been the recent increase in the number of Fly orchids (pictured left).
In most years, only a handful have been recorded, but in 2024 almost 50 were discovered!
A new species, the Chalk fragrant orchid was also recorded for the first time.
Interesting Invertebrates: You might spot a Great Green Bush-cricket, Six-Spot Burnet moth or Purse-web spiders (108 species of spider in total!).
Beautiful Butterflies: Many different species have made the site their home, including the following and many more …
Chalkhill Blue
Adonis Blue
Green Hairstreak
Marbled White
Dark Green Fritillary (Iain M Leach)
Small Blue (Andrew Cooper)
Silver Spotted Skipper
Common Blue
Wildlife Surveying
Thanks to Nick Marriner and the CNL Tracking The Impact Project we have great wildlife survey data from 2025.
Birds
An amazing 40 different species of birds were recorded on the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS)
Highlights include Firecrest, Blackcap, Yellowhammer and Skylark.
Butterflies
Reflecting the special nature of this site, 29 different species of Butterfly were recorded on the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS)
The highest numbers recorded on any one survey for the following species were:
Adonis Blue 14 (June)
Chalkhill Blue 33 (August)
Dark Green Fritillary 7 (July)
Small Blue 13 (June)
Green Hairstreak 11 (May)
Marbled White 161 (July)
Volunteer surveyors are always needed, so do get in touch to find out more!
Winter Work
Our winter work at Buttler’s Hangings is focused on some serious scrub management! Scrub is a term heard a lot in the world of ecology and conservation – it is a crucial component of grassland and woodlands and is often the interface between these two habitat types.
Chalk grassland scrub species typically include hawthorn, dogwood, blackthorn, buckthorn, wayfaring tree, spindle, guelder rose, and small trees like field maple & hazel. The principle of succession dictates that, if left unmanaged, the habitat would revert to woodland and specialist chalk species would be lost. By removing some of the scrub, we ensure that the chalk grassland remains viable to support the specialist species with which it is associated.
Our management of Buttler’s Hangings each winter involves several full days of ‘scrub bashing’ where we are joined by hardy volunteers to help carry out the mammoth task of removing and burning the selected scrub. We create scallops, remove taller overgrown shrubs, create corridors and pockets of cleared scrub; all in the name of improving the chalk grassland SSSI to a more favourable condition.
Take a look at this short film to see what we get up to at a winter volunteering session at Buttler’s Hangings!
Our key partner in this work is Butterfly Conservation Upper Thames Branch who not only provide a large amount of the funding but also bring volunteers to help with the work. Special thanks goes, as always, to Butterfly Conservation’s Nick Bowles, whose expertise and knowledge of species and their habitats guides the work that we do on site.
In addition to our faithful Chiltern Rangers Volunteers, in 2024/25 we were also joined on various sessions by members of Risborough Environment Group, students from Pebble Brook School, primary school pupils from Naphill & Walters Ash School, King’s Wood School, Wild Mind Well-Being group from Flackwell Heath, and Duke of Edinburgh Award participants. In total we had 44 adult volunteers and 45 young people contributing to that season’s work, providing an amazing 365 volunteer hours overall!
Our winter work on Buttler’s Hangings can sometimes be challenging, but is always fun as we share the enjoyment of this beautiful site with all of our wonderful volunteers. There’s a great sense of achievement in knowing that we are enhancing this precious space for the great variety of species found there. Do visit this special place in the spring and summer and let us know what you see….post your views and findings on social and tag us in!
