Ruttersleigh (grid reference ST250165) is a 97 hectares (240 acres) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Buckland St Mary and Staple Fitzpaine on the north-facing slope of the Blackdown Hills.

[1] This site comprises a mosaic of broadleaved woodland, scrub, bracken, mires and unimproved grassland which provides the habitat for several species of butterfly which are now scarce in Britain.

Wood horsetail (Equisetum sylvaticum), which is rare in Somerset, is abundant and widespread on this site also being found in the areas of bracken (Pteridium aquilinum).

The woodland rides and glades provide ideal habitat for the nationally scarce wood white (Leptidea sinapis) butterfly, this site having by far the strongest colony known in Somerset.

Adder (Vipera berus), grass snake (Natrix helvetica), slowworm (Anguis fragilis) and common lizard (Lacerta vivipara) have all been recorded from the site.