Just south of Edge village lies Rudge Hill Common, formerly known as Edge Common, a sweep of unimproved Jurassic limestone grassland that forms part of the Cotswold Commons and Beechwoods National Nature Reserve. The common was renamed after the reserve was created in 1974 by amalgamating ten individual sites, but most locals still call it Edge Common. Among the wildflowers and grasses of this exposed hillside lives one of Gloucestershire's rarest butterflies: the Duke of Burgundy. Despite its grand name, it is a small, inconspicuous insect with chequered brown and orange wings, and it is declining alarmingly across Britain. Rudge Hill is one of its last strongholds in the county. The butterfly depends on primrose and cowslip plants, where the females lay their eggs on the underside of leaves. Conservation work by Natural England has involved planting large areas of primula to boost the food supply, arranging light autumn cattle grazing to prevent scrub encroachment, and reducing scrub cover to no more than twenty per cent of the site. The effort appears to be working — the Duke of Burgundy is flourishing here. The common also supports chalkhill blue, Adonis blue, small blue, dingy skipper, green hairstreak, silver-washed fritillary and marbled white butterflies, making this short stretch of the Cotswold Way one of the richest for lepidoptera on the entire trail. In summer, the hillside hums.
“The butterfly depends on primrose and cowslip plants, where the females lay their eggs on the underside of leaves.”
