The duck saga.

Two Saturdays ago we had a bad case of ducks at Palace Green. Not bad for us cos they're lovely but bad for them cos they were stuck. It appeared that a momma duck had somehow fallen or fled into an area of water, a sort of sump, behind the library and her chicks had followed her. Momma duck could fly out but the poor little babies couldn't because they weren't old enough and momma duck was getting in a bit of a flap.

We rang Estates & Buildings but they said they couldn't do anything so we rang the RSPCA and they said they'd call us back but didn't know when or whether they'd be able to come out. So one of my colleagues and one of the Assistant Librarians mounted an effort to get the poor chicks out of the sump and back safe with their mum. Unfortunately the place the ducks fell is a good four feet down from the lowest window and about eight feet from the external wall. I took a picture of the little ducks and their mum out of the window with my colleagues camera, here it is:

You can just make out seven ducklings and on the left is this weird metal jetty affair. You can tell it's a long way down too cos the momma duck looks quite small but she certainly wasn't when she flew up the wall to see what I was doing.

They are, however, saved from their plight now. One of my colleagues got a bucket and a shovel out of the disaster kit (usually reserved for fire, flood and bomb damange) and the other guy climbed out of the toilet window and onto the jetty thing next to the stagnant water to try and coax them out. Two of the ducklings climbed straight onto the shovel but the others were more wary so he ended up hip deep in yucky water chasing them into the bucket. they were released somewhere in the Fellows' Garden, which belongs to the Castle and straight away we could hear mum quacking so hopefully she was getting them away and fed. The Assistant Librarian has put some shelving over the hole to stop anything else falling in but why on earth it's uncovered and allowed to fill with water we have no idea, especially as it's right next to a load of rare books.