Ducks bring city road to standstill

4:36pm Saturday 10th May 2008

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A DUCK AND her nine ducklings went walkabout and brought Winchester's busiest road to a standstill.

The feathered family took the life-threatening decision to waddle in single file along St Georges Street against the traffic flow at about 10.50am on Saturday.

Passers-by stopped the traffic which then quickly backed up into Upper Brook Street and Friarsgate.

As scores of drivers waited patiently, the ducks were shepherded to the safety of the River Itchen at Friarsgate.

One of the rescuers, Linda Napier, of Cheriton, near Alresford, said: "There was loads of traffic and I wasn't prepared to let them get squashed. The ducklings were only about two days old.

"It was good of the drivers to stop - some had to wait for a good 15 minutes.

"Lots of people stopped to help and we took 45 minutes to escort them to the river."

Her daughter, Eva, ten, said: "It was quite exciting. One of the ducklings fell down a drain and a man lifted the cover up and my Mum fished it out and everyone was clapping."