Orphaned ducklings rescued from A590 by business owner

Laurie Freeman, a local business owner, stopped traffic to save 12 mallard ducklings who were running astray after a car tragically killed their mother.

Another driver who had also stopped on the opposite side of the road had a box in the car so that the ducklings could be scooped up.

"Hopefully I got all of them, but it is hard to say," said Laurie. "It is bittersweet."

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He explained he 'had to stop' when he saw the ducklings on the road.

"Somebody would have squashed them like the idiot who ran over the mother duck," he said.

"The amount of wildlife that I see dead on that road is frustrating. I think there need to be more wildlife corridors perhaps even slow down that road like they have done further down just so people are more careful.

"On either side, there is Foulshaw Moss which is the Nature Reserve where the ospreys are currently breeding and I am sure they were probably on their way to the Moss which is really sad."

The ducklings continued onto Laurie’s original destination of The Derby Arms in Witherslack where a decision was made over a couple of pints to send them on to a friend, Alistair Hibbert’s house - who has a large pond where they are now being looked after.

Alisdair putting the ducklings inside their new home (Image: Laurie Freeman)

"All 12 are still surviving which is amazing. They are growing and hopefully soon we will be able to release them out onto the pond," he said.

Laurie, of organic soft drink brand Zingi Bear, said he had created a bond with the ducklings and visits them frequently.

This was not Laurie's first time rescuing animals, having helped geese and a frog in the past.

Laurie and Alistair are open to suggestions to name the ducklings before they are released back to their habitat.