A wildlife trust said it had been inundated with volunteers after a call for “oak nannies” to nurture young seedlings at home.

Susan Antrobus, from the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, said a woman in Great Broughton got in touch after hundreds of oak saplings appeared under her tree.

However, upon collecting them, the trust realised they were too small to be planted on its nature reserves so called for people to look after the saplings for a year until they were big enough.