About the reserve

The Willow Holt is one of the few remaining survivors of the working willow holts that were a feature of many Trentside villages. The site is especially important as it houses an internationally-known collection of willows and hybrid species. Part of the riverbank is raised and forms a flood bank, either side of which is an interesting selection of cricket bat willows and hybrid balasam poplars.

A diversity of native wildlife takes refuge within the site’s many habitats which include willow woodland and marsh along the flood bank, traditionally managed water meadows, and an important collection of willows - established in the 1950s by renowned local botanists Mr and Mrs Howitt who lived just a few hundred yards from the Holt.

Wild flowers include meadow cranesbill, comfrey, angelica and meadowsweet and the water meadows host species such as Yorkshire fog, brown bent and cocksfoot.