The oldest breed of heavy horse in the UK visited a wood in Highgate as part of a project to encourage more wild flowers to grow.

Roy, a four-year-old Suffolk horse, helped clear the ground in Queen’s Wood, in Muswell Hill Road.

He was part of a traditional method of coppicing – an ancient form of harvesting woodland which involves horses dragging cut-down timber along the ground.

This encourages re-growth and allows more light into the area which increases the number of wild flowers, plants and other vegetation.

Roy was paid for by the Friends of Queen’s Wood and Haringey Borough Council, who secured a community grant of £2,728 from the Greater London Authority.

A Suffolk horse will shift more than ten metric tonnes of timber in their lifetime and eat a 20 to 30 kilogramme bail of straw a day.