Duckling flotilla grows

Yesterday's story on Audlem Online about a family of nineteen ducklings attracted a little scepticism, particularly as we were only able to get fourteen to pose at the same time.

Now we have even better proof of this amazing family. The numbers have grown, we reckon, to twenty three youngsters – click on the photo to enlarge it. But, after trying to count this lot, you start to recount, and then re-recount, and somehow, come up with a different number each time!

Experienced canal users say they've never seen a family this size before. Any advance on twenty three. Or was it twenty four?

We reported yesterday that the drake looked a little bemused about what he'd got himself into. Today he was missing. Hopefully, for the family's sake, it's just a temporary absence – perhaps he'd popped down to the Shroppie Fly or Bridge for a quiet drink...or two.

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