A woman's work for the environment has taken her from studying black bears in the wild to planting trees with schoolchildren.

Mother-of-three Penny Franklin has been finishing her Millennium Award work in her home village of Long Hanborough.

Helped by local primary school children, she planted a group of trees at the village's playing field in Roosevelt Road.

In May and June Mrs Franklin, of Main Road, was trekking through the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina to monitor the movements and habits of black bears in a research project.

She was one of 60 people aged 50 or over given awards by the Oxford-based charity Earthwatch to take part in conservation schemes at home and abroad.

Before going to America, Mrs Franklin, a sister in the Women's Centre at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, was involved in a scheme to survey the River Evenlode for otters and water voles.

The tree planting scheme was backed by the Wychwood Project, a conservation group based in west Oxfordshire.

She said: "The children have already planted daffodil bulbs.

"We hope the tree planting will encourage wildlife."