Dear Sir,
We had a very exciting day at school recently. I am the reception class teacher at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School and this morning our caretaker, Mr Foster, informed me that there were 14 ducklings and their mother on the school field in a huge puddle.
Our field often has ducks swimming on it but this was a new occurrence. I took small groups of children out to look at this wonderful sight and soon realised that the ducklings weren’t safe. A big ginger cat had its eye on them and so too had the seagulls. Mrs Machin, another teacher in Reception class put on her wellies and accompanied with two children Kimberley and Ben, stood guard on Seagull watch.
I phoned the RSPB who advised us to try and capture the family to release them somewhere safer. However I had overwhelming images of a bad Benny Hill sketch and decided to phone our local vet, Wilsons Vetinary group. The vets were only too happy to help and promptly came with kit in hand.
Ben informed the vets, “You’re too late for one little duckling as the Seagull has eaten it but that’s just nature you see.”
Mandy and Katherine were like the duck whisperers as they skilfully coaxed the ducklings into a cage. Alarmingly at this poiint a gardener who was strimming the hedges spooked the mother who flew away.
Kimberley creatively suggested that all of the children who didn’t have any cats at home could take a duckling each and care for it, and looked almost disappointed as the mother returned half an hour later.
The family were successfully released onto our local burn.
What a day!
