Volunteers will be donning wellies and gloves to help clear almost 500 metres of ditches in Ten Acre Wood, a nature reserve bordering the Yeading Brook in Hayes .

The site is managed by London Wildlife Trust (LWT) and is rich in wildlife including dragonflies, great spotted woodpecker, kingfisher and deer.

But the conservationists are hoping work to clear overgrown ditches will encourage more animals to make a home in the reserve, including the water vole, Britain’s fastest declining wild mammal.

Tom Hayward, reserves manager with LWT, said: “Ten Acre Woods is a beautiful site, but we urgently need to remove the scrub and silt that is overwhelming the wood’s network of ditches.

“The ditches drain the site but also support a wide range of wildlife, from small invertebrates to larger mammals which feed in and around the ditches.

“With luck we will even see the return of water voles, which have suffered a huge population drop due to the destruction of suitable habitat and predation by American mink.”

Yeading Brook as it passes through meadows between Charville Lane and Yeading Lane in Hayes

Ten Acre Wood, in Yeading , is open to the public all year round. During the winter, hawthorn and blackthorn provide a rich source of berries for birds, making the site popular with birdwatchers.

The work by volunteers is supported with the aid of a grant of £25,000 from The Veolia Environmental Trust, awarded through the Landfill Communities Fund - where waste companies retain a small part of their Landfill Tax bill and use it to support community and environmental projects.

Paul Taylor, executive director of the trust, said: “It is great to hear that work is starting on this important project.

“It will have multiple benefits for wildlife and the people who want to enjoy it. We also love it when volunteers get involved with a scheme we are supporting and I look forward to hearing about how their efforts have led to the ditches thriving once again.”

For more information about the project visit www.wildlondon.org.uk/reserves/ten-acre-wood.