THE family of a youngster who skewered his leg on a branch during a tree climbing accident said it could have been "100 times worse".

Josh Sheppard was playing with two friends at a games field near his home in Pinvin, near Pershore, when he decided to climb a tree beside the football pitch.

As he neared the top, a supporting branch snapped and the nine-year-old plummeted on to a broken branch stump - still four feet above the ground - that pierced his left thigh.

His mother, 37-year-old Tracey Sheppard, raced to the field after hearing of the accident - on Saturday lunchtime - and has barely left her son's side since.

Josh's sister, Paula, also arrived while her "accident prone" brother was impaled by the branch and remained stuck in the tree.

Medical crews, the fire brigade and the air ambulance were quickly on the scene.

"He was screaming at first but he quickly calmed down," she Paula.

"By the end he was all right and just really excited about flying in a helicopter.

"He is a bit accident prone. He runs around all the time and gets the usual bumps and bruises but nothing as serious as this."

Fire crews sawed off the branch at the trunk, leaving six inches of wood sticking in Josh's inner leg. Remarkably it left him with only slight muscle damage in his thigh.

James Sheppard, Josh's dad, was visiting his sister in Pershore at the time and arrived to see them loading his son on to the air ambulance.

"He was a brave boy throughout and he's been very, very lucky," said the 39-year-old, of Pendas Meadow.

"I was OK until I saw the stick in his leg, but even then it didn't really sink in for me until Sunday evening - it could've been 100 times worse.

"The whole scene was like something you see on TV, but it is very strange when you are just a foot away from it and it is your son there."

The branch was removed at Birmingham Children's Hospital on Saturday and the wound was left open for it to be cleaned. Medics were due to sew it up yesterday.

Josh, who will be 10 years old later this month, is a pupil at nearby St Nicholas CE Middle School, in Pinvin.

He is expected home, with crutches, later this week.