Duck waddles two miles along busy roads to save ducklings

A mother duck duck braved traffic and a housing estate during a two-mile chase to rescue her babies from a sewer.

The six ducklings fell down an underground access and were swept away – but mum could not fit through it.



So the mallard followed their frantic quacks overground across two main roads and a railway line until they stopped under a manhole in Gosforth, Newcastle.

She then sat quacking loudly for at least four hours until jogger Peter Elliott, 59, and daughter Vicki Jefferson, 30, stopped to see what was wrong with her.



They were amazed to hear the faint sound of quacking coming from under the cover and, with the help of friend Jim Calder, lifted it off with a crowbar.

They were even more stunned to see the six ducklings below — and lifted them all out to safety with a child’s fishing net. After they were rescued Mr Elliott drove them to a lake near Newcastle airport and let them go.