MP Jason McCartney has been helping Yorkshire Water restore an ancient woodland.

The Colne Valley Tory helped Yorkshire Water staff remove foreign species of trees planted during the 19th and 20th centuries at Riding Wood, near Holme village.

Yorkshire Water hopes to restore the 13-hectare site by planting 12,000 native oak, hazel, rowan, alder and holly.

Leaves from native trees better support native fauna and prevent soil erosion.

The Riding Wood scheme is part of a £1m Yorkshire Water project announced in June 2011, which will restore almost 80 hectares of ancient woodland by the time the project ends in 2015.

Mr McCartney, who planted an oak tree, said: “This beautiful part of the world is treasured by locals and tourists alike so it’s great to see Yorkshire Water investing in the natural environment here.”

Geoff Lomas, recreation and catchment manager at Yorkshire Water, added: “Ancient woodlands are essentially the UK equivalent of the Amazon rainforests.

“It’s hard to stress just how valuable they are both in terms of our heritage and from a biodiversity point of view.”

Ancient woodlands are defined as any area which has been under continuous tree cover since at least the 1600s but most ancient woodlands are, in fact, thousands of years old.