POWER workers went to mow a meadow yesterday.

A team from npower's Peterlee call centres joined forces with volunteers from the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust and Hartlepool countryside wardens to cut, strim and rake grassy embankments above a former rail line, now the Hart to Haswell walkway.

Wildflower displays are a feature of the walkway glades and a magnet for butterflies, but the glades need an annual cut and clean up every autumn so the wildflowers grow and thrive.

The eye-catching flowers provide much needed sources of food for insects, which in turn are eaten by birds, bats and small mammals.

Jonathan Pounder, project officer, for the wildlife trust, said: "Its really great that staff from npower have agreed to come and support the volunteers from the trust.

"Without the hard work of the volunteer groups, the rich wildflower areas would soon disappear, spoiling this beautiful walkway."

For more information about employee volunteering, or volunteering with the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, call 01287-636382. For more details about the walkway, call Hartlepool countryside wardens on 01429-853325.