50th Anniversary Part 1

2023 is the 50th anniversary of the founding of High Batts by Colin Slator.

With the permission of Sir Richard Graham who owned the land, Colin and a very small group of young friends began looking after the site, helping to maintain habitats and recording the wildlife.

Many hours of work and love have gone into the Reserve over the 50 years, and many people have been involved in its development and its successes.

As part of our anniversary activities we have been collecting photographs of the Reserve over the years, and have located some interesting images that brought back memories. We will post a selection of them over the next few months.

This image shows an early working party clearing scrub – you can tell how young these High Batts pioneers were. (Colin Slator, Christopher Baldwin and Tim Scott).

This image shows the original entrance to the Reserve at the rear of the broken-down barn which later became the work base.

There was no track access from the A6108 or car parking in those days.

The tall trees beyond the barn were all dead and had to be removed, and were replaced by hazels which are now regularly coppiced to improve habitats.

This image shows a working party deciding where a donated shed was to be located.

It was placed near the current Hotel hide – one of three hides on that site over the years, most of which are still in use across the Reserve.

Erecting a 30 foot observation tower in 1983. It stood near the Hotel site until it was taken down for safety reasons in 1989, and eventually replaced by the tower at the north end of the Reserve. Stephen Worwood demonstrating accessibility.

Originally there was no pond on the Reserve. In the late 70s a simple stream was dug out from the water inflow at the northern end.

The pond in its current form was created in 1987. The image opposite shows volunteers at the newly-created pond, digging an outflow to the river.

A hide was built at the same time as the pond in 1987. In 1994, the Pond Hide was raised both to improve the view and reduce the chance of flooding. As you can see, it was no mean feat.

Screens were built around the hide with reeds donated by Blacktoft Sands Reserve.