Beavers will return to west London for the first time in 400 years after receiving funding from the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan.

A breeding pair of Eurasian beavers could arrive at their new home in Paradise Fields, Ealing, as soon as this autumn.

Conservation groups received £40,000 from the mayor of London to create the publicly accessible reintroduction site, the first of its kind in an urban setting in the UK.

It is viewed as an important step in the rewilding project as wild beaver populations in Kent and Oxfordshire move closer to London.

Dr Sean McCormack, vet and chair of the Ealing Wildlife Group, said: “Many people assume beavers are a wilderness species, when in fact we’ve just forgotten how closely we used to live alongside them.