Adders and bees are among wildlife set to benefit from volunteering action at Hounslow Heath.

A group from UK Power Networks Services who usually work at Heathrow Airport, got hands-on with a range of conservation work, through the company’s Donate a Day initiative which allows staff two paid days every year to volunteer in the local community.  

After a safety briefing from Hounslow Council’s Countryside Team, they cleared scrub and oak growth, helping to preserve open heathland and allowing key species such as adders to move and thrive more freely. The group of nine also created a ‘scrape habitat’ to support digger wasps and ground nesting bees. While working they spotted an adder and an underground birds nest.

Organiser Ramita Ghosh, who works as a senior design engineer at UK Power Networks Services said: 

Leader of Hounslow Council, councillor Shantanu Rajawat, said: