DYLLIS the duck came out in sympathy when Ian and Gill Aldred moved home.

For the past two years Journal advertising representative Gill and her husband, Ian, have played "mum and dad" to families of mallard ducks.

So, when their Elmridge home was snapped-up with a mid-breeding season completion date, they started to panic.

Duck Watch signs could have gone up outside as the Aldreds spent countless hours trying to ensure this year's brood didn't become a predator's snack.

Ian even built an access ramp so the downy ducklings didn't get stranded and Gill had been known to take on a sheep dog role at round-up time!

But, when the Aldreds moved out, Dyllis and her nine ducklings also decided to leave.

Worried Gill said:"The new owner tells us the ducks haven't returned."

A few days later neighbours called out a fire crew to try to rescue a distraught duckling which had fallen down a drainage grid on the Elmridge estate.

Locals had been keeping a careful eye on mother duck and her offspring and managed to rescue one of the tiny creatures from the drain.

But a second disappeared from sight into a small, dark, side pipe and was too frightened to come out.

Then Leigh firemen hit upon an ingenious rescue plan.

They put a mirror at the entrance of the pipe and shone a torch on it so the duckling could see its own image.

Believing it was his brother or sister, the duckling waddled towards it and was plucked to safety.

"I wonder if it was Dyllis and her ducklings," pondered Gill. "We do hope they are all well."

Meanwhile the Aldreds can console themselves with a life-size mallard and ducklings which Ian's mum, Irene, bought as a house-warming present.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.