A summer project will restore a nature reserve and help provide a much-needed new home for wildlife.

Watford Borough Council has announced will work will start this year on a new wetlands restoration project at Cassiobury Park.

It will see the area's former watercress beds transformed into a sanctuary complete with reeds, ponds, and scrapes.

The main watercress beds stopped being used in the 1970s and in the early 1980s the area was fenced off as a nature reserve, which has slowly declined.

The restoration will return the watercress bed to wetland habitat for birds, like the snipe and the green sandpiper and for insects and mammals; thus increasing the reserve’s biodiversity and providing a large and relatively accessible site for observing and learning about nature.

Work will include the removal of silt from the beds themselves, re-opening the river inlet and clearing the flow channel and exit into the river, with viewing screens at intervals along the edge.

The project will be led by the council, with support from Friends of Cassiobury Park, Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust and Community Connection Projects CIC.

Elected Mayor of Watford, Peter Taylor, said: "This new wetland in Cassiobury Park will provide a much-needed home for wildlife and will bring back a large unused open space for everyone to view and enjoy.

"The restoration will also provide educational opportunities at the reserve and will relieve flooding elsewhere in the park by restoring part of the flood plain that has been missing for some time.

"Projects like these help make our town a greener and more sustainable place for residents to live."