Duckling rescue

6th June
Up the Hatton flight; 22 locks, all of which Pete did. We stopped to fill with water at the top and were aware of a lot of duck distress by the side culvet of the lock. Mother duck was calling her duckling and getting plaintive peeps back but no duckling could be seen.

A young couple on a little river cruiser boat, Yoghurt (strange name) in the lock were trying to work out a rescue plan and we joined in. There were in fact 8 ducklings all swimming about in the concrete walled pond, no idea how they had got in there and there was no way they would get out, they couldn't fly! After trying several daft contraptions reminiscent of a fairground game; ours a bucket on a rope, theirs a sieve tied to a boat hook, all we succeeded in doing was to frighten the things so badly that they frantically swam one way and then the next, successfully dodging our scoops. Eventually the lady from Yoghurt donned a pair of fetching waders ( before this she was dressed in a pretty sundress and sandals) and climbed in. She and Pete worked out an effective system of cornering the ducklings behind a plank of wood so that she could reach behind and grab them one by one to hoik back into the canal. Needless to say the mother duck was going berserk and the ducklings were getting so frightened they kept diving under the water to hide!

A group on the opposite side had gathered to watch as each duckling was thrown through the air back into the canal, where mum duck scolded them as they rushed away from the nightmare scene.

Thank goodness for the Yoghurt lady, her waders, a plank and a sieve on a pole. The latter entirely useless.