THE death of an entire village pond's fish life has led to a cleaning-up exercise which began yesterday.

Wolviston Parish Council decided to call in the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust after too much vegetation and accumulated silt led to the death of the fish. The pond is also being cleared of empty bottles and cans.

Work began pumping out the water and silt yesterday as the clean-up operation began at Wolviston, near Billingham.

A large boulder area will be established to create a shelf area for native vegetation to be replanted back into the pond in the spring.

"It's all machine work at the minute," said Jonathan Poun-der, Tees corridor officer for the trust, "and it hasn't been going very well because the pump has broken. However we are hoping the whole community will become involved in the spring and that the pond will become a haven for wildlife."

Morris Apedale, of Wolviston Parish Council, said: "Hopefully, by the summer we will have a pond that not only looks likes a pond, but one that is a haven for wildlife."