BILL Heslop is just quackers about his unusual line in shepherding - he and his dogs herd DUCKS.

Bill, a semi-retired dog trainer from Pillings Farm, Baxenden, has found his duck mustering skills are in demand and is off to London next week to show southerners just how it's done.

He said of his bizarre sideline: "It's just the same as herding sheep, but you have to go at a third of the speed or they just give up and fall over - they've only got little legs!'

He started herding ducks 12 years ago at the Tockholes Gala, 'more by accident than design' - and took to it like a duck to water. He said: "A friend of mine volunteered me for it, before asking me if I could do it. I decided I would do, but then of course I had to run out and buy some ducks!"

The display was a success, and this year he went back to the gala with the show, to the delight of the children there.

He said of this year's event: "The children loved watching and getting involved. I get them to choose the number of a duck for the dogs to separate out - then tell the dogs to choose the wrong ones all the time. It's fun."

Bill, who also herds sheep at displays, says ducks are more suitable for some of the small venues he is invited to.

He is one of around 12 duck shepherds in the country, but his first love, he says, is training his dogs.

"I was about five when I started with my first dog," he said. "It was deaf, and I had to teach it to respond to signals. From then on I was hooked. I never thought I'd end up using them to herd ducks though!"

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