TWO volunteer litter collectors scored a few Brownie points after helping rescue a hedgehog trapped in cricket nets in Wilmslow.

Rebecca Boyce and Michelle Hitchen, from the Wilmslow branch of the Yorkshire Building Society, were out helping Wilmslow Clean Team to clean up the town, when the trapped hedgehog was spotted.

Rebecca said: "We were at Wilmslow Leisure Centre at the time picking up litter when Michelle spotted the hedgehog who had managed to tangle himself up in the nets. As we got closer to him we could hear him squeaking because he was in pain."

"It took the use of some blunt scissors to untangle him and he must have been there for quite a while because the nets were wrapped tightly around him and he was bleeding."

The rescued hedgehog was taken by a member of the public to a wildlife rescue centre in Alderley Edge.

Colin Jones a member of the committee for the Wilmslow Clean Team said:"A group of volunteers who organise regular litter cleaning activities around Wilmslow, in support of Cheshire East Council.

"Two of our volunteers – Michelle and Rebecca discovered a totally ensnared hedgehog in the cricket nets at the Leisure Centre.

"Staff from the Leisure Centre freed the hedgehog and a Leisure Centre customer took it to a wildlife rescue centre in Alderley Edge, as it was injured."

Rebecca, who was on her first litter pick, added: "Because the rescue took up to 15 minutes it curtailed our picking but we each managed to fill up a bag with rubbish."