A team of bank workers are turning their hands from finance to forestry by helping to conserve valuable wildlife habitats.

Volunteers from HSBC Direct, in Leicester, got stuck into the Watermead and Beacon Hill Country Park's native tree collection to carry out hazel coppicing.

Chris Conway, Leicestershire County Council's volunteer and events co-ordinator for country parks, said: "We had around 10 people from HSBC, all local from Leicester, most of whom had never done anything like this before as they all have desk jobs, so this was way out of their comfort zones.

"They were really enthusiastic."

The volunteers tackled tasks such as bracken-bashing, scrub removal and heather relocating.

In the HSBC Direct scheme, the bank introduced one day's paid leave for every employee to undertake community or charitable activities.

It must be with a registered charity or community organisations, schools and country parks.