Out on a wing and a prayer!

The plucky 39-year-old said he felt ‘a bit of a hero’ when he saved a black-headed gull which had got its wing tangled in twine, which then became snagged in the branches of a large tree in Birkdale Road, Dewsbury.

The Reporter office got a call from 16-year-old Birkdale School pupil Ayyoob Dawoodji on Tuesday at about 3.30pm. He told us about the bird and failed attempts to rescue it.

The fire service and police were called to help, but it was the combined efforts of RSPCA officer Liz Braidley, a neighbour and Mr Midgley that finally got the bird back down to earth.

Mr Midgley was walking home when he saw a crowd of people gathered looking up at the distressed bird.

He said: “There were several youngsters throwing sticks up to try and get it down and people did try climbing the tree, but it was obvious it wasn’t going to work. The fire brigade couldn’t do anything because the was nowhere to rest a ladder and the cherry picker was somewhere else.

“Then a stepladder was brought out by a neighbour and the RSPCA gave me some rods to tie together with a hook on the end.”

Mr Midgley climbed the stepladder and after a few attempts was able to hook the twine and gently pull the bird down to cheers from the crowd.

“I felt a bit of a hero, I know that sounds daft. Some people were saying it was only a bird, but it’s a living thing.”

Luckily the bird had no injuries, despite being stuck for more than an hour. Miss Braidley took it to a vet and it was released the following day.

She said: “There were a lot of people there and everyone was brilliant and really helpful.”