A NATURE reserve has been opened after a landowner left the land to a wildlife trust in his will.

The Ragpath Heath nature reserve has been created on a site left to Durham Wildlife Trust by the late John Gibson, of Cornsay.

The reserve is a 3.5-hectare pocket of heath and woodland, about three miles from the village of Lanchester. Wildlife supporters say it could play an important role in conserving increasingly rare species.

The heath is a designated a County Wildlife Site, described by the trust as "a species-rich mosaic of heath, marsh/fen and wet woodland", which is under threat of converting into scrub.

The site's particular importance is as a link between reserves at Longburn Ford Quarry and Hedleyhope Fell, and the neighbouring Black Plantation reserve, all of which are important sites for the conservation of the endangered small pearlbordered fritillary butterfly, the county's rarest butterfly.

The site also contains juniper trees and the shrub petty whin, both of which are rare in County Durham.

The reserve includes Ragpathside Common, which is unusual in that it has no public rights of way or access routes.

The trust says management of the site will focus on controlling the invasive scrub and the introduction of grazing, a programme intended to restore the heath, marsh and fen habitats in addition to helping flora and fauna.

Mark Richardson, deputy director of the wildlife trust, said: "Sites like this, although small, are so important.

"Wildlife becomes most endangered when its habitat is fragmented, and creating networks of sites, such as this, helps species to survive."

The addition of Ragpath Heath takes the number of reserves managed by the trust to 26, covering more than 600 hectares of important wildlife habitat across the North-East.