This 32-acre reserve centres on the River Ure, near Ripon, and is exceptional for its biodiversity, which includes 600 moth species (almost one-quarter of the national total), 19 different dragonflies and 300 plants. Yet in some ways, High Batts is even more extraordinary for its origins and history.
In 1973, a 21-year-old naturalist called Colin Slator walked up unannounced to the door of High Batts’ owners and asked if he could rent and manage it for nature. They agreed, and 50 years later the place is still being run by a cohort of remarkable (if increasingly white-haired) volunteers, some of whom have kept up their unpaid efforts for the full half century.
