A local man has been praised for his actions after removing shopping trolleys from the River Esk at Musselburgh.

James Pearson, 45, of the Musselburgh Magnet Fishing group, went to retrieve them after hearing, via social media, that there were around six Tesco trolleys in the river at a wooden footbridge near the job centre.

He removed seven trolleys from the Esk and returned them to the local Tesco store.

One social media post said: “Wow that’s what you call a good deed so lucky there are people like you in this world.”

Another added: “That is definitely going above and beyond. Thank you for doing that.”

“Well done great community act,” said another post.

One post said: “Well done James, the world is a much better place with guys like you around.”

Mr Pearson, of Kilwinning Terrace, said: “Just doing my bit.”

He set up Magnet Fishing Musselburgh in a bid to clear local waterways of metal objects.

He aims to remove anything he sees that will cause harm to local wildlife on the River Esk, such as shopping trolleys, bikes, scooters and other metal debris.

In the past, Mr Pearson has even retrieved a lady’s purse which was handed into the police and, while magnet fishing on the Union Canal in Edinburgh recently, found a Second World War rifle which was taken away by police.

A former pupil of Musselburgh Burgh Primary School and Musselburgh Grammar School, he has been magnet fishing for about three years after watching the YouTube channel ‘WW2 Wendal’.

He then made contact with Magnet Fishing Edinburgh and, along with friends, created official Magnet Fishing Scotland, which, he said, was the only group worldwide to be legally allowed to magnet fish the Scottish canal system.

Magnet fishing is tying a high-powered magnet onto a rope and throwing it into a body of water to remove any metallic items.

Mr Pearson said: “I’ve been pulling trolleys out the Esk for the last year or so.”

He said normally members of his group or members of community groups contacted him, adding: “I reckon I’ve pulled around 60 Tesco trolleys in the last six months.”

Access the Magnet Fishing Musselburgh Facebook at facebook.com/groups/252712490103253