What a palaver!

Around lunch time today a female duck followed by 11 little ducklings descended the steep stone steps from the car park to the house and entered through an open door where they were discovered by one of our residents. At this point the mother flew out of the door leaving the little ones behind, confused and distressed.

After some time of trying to get them out we left the scene and watched from a distance in the hope that they would return outside to the safety of their 'mum'. After about 10 minutes they found their way out and 6 of them proceeded to ascend the steps and entered the car park leaving the 5 smaller ducklings behind in a small garden area in front of the lower ground floor. DRASTIC MEASURES WERE NEEDED - I quickly printed out and laminated two posters which were placed at the car park entrance and on the main door of the house to warn drivers of their whereabouts.

After 20 minutes of exploring the 6 escapees returned down the stairs to join their squeaking siblings. THEN DISASTER - three of them fell down a hole at the bottom of a drainpipe. In distress they tried in vain to jump out of the hole which was unfortunately too tight for anyone to reach them.

EVEN MORE DRASTIC MEASURES WERE NOW REQUIRED - After much discussion between myself and one of the House Leaders we brought out 'Henry' to the rescue. We tried covering his nozzle with kitchen towel to reduce the suction but it wasn't strong enough. WE WERE LEFT WITH ONLY ONE OPTION - A difficult decision to make but we had to use it without the kitchen towel! One by one Henry sucked the ducklings up into his cylinder from where they were removed, dusty but none the worse for their ordeal and returned safely to their 8 siblings who were watching the whole scenario from a safe distance. From start to finish the whole incident took about an hour and a half.

Just don't report us to the RSPB.

NB: When I left work 3 hours later they were all safe and still wandering around the carpark. I know nothing about wildlife but I would have though 'mum' would have come back from them once we had all left the vicinity.

No one can say life at Camphill Blair Drummond is dull.