WATCH: Residents and wildlife rescuers help mother and her adorable ducklings

A video of a mother mallard duck and 14 baby ducklings being escorted to safety across the Eastbourne Road near Uckfield, UK, as residents watched with bated breath, has been viewed thousands of times.

The mother hatched 15 adorable ducklings the morning before and residents anxiously waited to see when she would attempt to walk them to a nearby pond.

She decided to try walking them across a road to the pond so residents called in help from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS).

“Attempting to catch her and move her is risky as she could fly off abandoning her young and leaving us with the job of hand rearing them, and no mum wants to be separated from their young, so we always when safe to do so, try to escort the mum and ducklings to safety” explained Trevor Weeks MBE, founder of East Sussex WRAS.

“The traffic was only stopped for a very short period of time, and luckily this year she chose to move them on Good Friday so the roads were quieter than normal. At first motorists were wondering whats going on and started to get impatient and didn’t want to stop, but once they saw the mum and duckling a smile appeared on their faces and they are happy to wait” said Trevor.

“Its normal for ducks to nest in gardens as they are generally safer for them than nesting by ponds and streams. Once the young are about 24 -48 hours old then generally them walk them to the pond or stream they want to go to.

“Unfortunately they don’t always plan how they are going to walk them there so we often have to step in and give them a hand. You also have to be careful you don’t force them in the wrong direction or take them to the wrong pond, because as soon as you have gone they are likely to up and walk to whether ever they want to head to, and could still get run over again” said Trevor.

Rescuers monitored her all the way to the pond to ensure mum and all the ducklings stayed safe!

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