A nature reserve in North Yorkshire has become a blueprint for success for schemes to create wildlife habitats.

The Nosterfield Nature Reserve was created on the site of former sand and gravel workings, near Ripon, and is owned and managed by the Lower Ure Conservation Trust.

It has attracted breeding waders such as lapwing and redshank and ducks, like the shoveler. That success has prompted the RSPB to use the site as a case study in its book Habitat Creation Handbook for the Minerals Industry.

The book aims to show the best ways in which former mineral workings can be transformed into valuable wildlife sites - and Nosterfield is held up as a prime example.

The reserve has also been the venue for a workshop to show planners, industry and conservationists how sites can be developed.

Two dozen experts in land management attended to learn how the award-winning reserve had become such an important wildlife site.

Reserve trustee Simon Warwick said: "Nosterfield has become important not only for birds but for a whole range of species, including wildflowers and butterflies. Its purpose is to enhance the biodiversity of the region."