Firefighters rescue seven trapped ducklings from a drain in Newcastle

Sunday morning in university halls can see a lot of students waking up to pounding headaches and ringing ears after a heavy Saturday night.

However, this Sunday morning students at Castle Leazes Hall were woken up by something else entirely - the panicked quacking of a mother duck, whose seven ducklings had become trapped in a storm drain at the Spital Tongues halls of residence. The worried students raised the alarm, with firefighters from Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue attending the scene to rescue the trapped birds.

Concerned onlookers had seen the mother duck circling the drain and flapping her wings, with the students able to see through the grate to the trapped ducklings below. And thankfully, they were able to open up the drain, reach down, and free the little ducklings, reuniting them with their mother in a matter of minutes.

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Watch manager Lee Denny of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, said: "It was as if the mother duck knew that we were there to help rescue her trapped offspring. We scraped away the excess muck from around the sides of the drain and used a crowbar to loosen the grate. Once the cover was removed, each of the ducklings were rescued and returned back to their relieved mam.

"We were delighted and over the moon that the story had a happy ending and credit goes out to the Newcastle University students who initially raised the alarm. It’s not every day that you get to save the lives of seven little ducklings on a Sunday morning."

Handout photo dated issued by Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service of young ducks being rescued after getting trapped in a drain (PA)

The mother and her ducklings then waddled away to enjoy the rest of their day in the Toon as the fire crew left the scene at approximately 10.30am.

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