Ducklings saved from certain 'quack-tastrophe' on main road by local wildlife photographer

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A local wildlife photographer from East Calder reunited nine ducklings with their mother after they narrowly avoided a quack-tastrophe trying to cross the Main Street.Mark Begg saved the Mallard ducklings after being alerted to their precarious attempts at crossing the Main Street in East Calder; they were in peril of being flattened into duck pancakes in the Sunday traffic.Local women first spotted the family of ducks trying to cross the road - chasing them away from the busy main street and into a nearby garden before calling Mark Begg to come to the rescue.Mark is well known in the local community of Mid and East Calder - running his own aviary for injured birds that the local community put £750 towards to help set up - in 2021 alone Mark took care of 69 birds.The local birdkeeper and wildlife photographer had just returned home from a Wood Pigeon rescue when he got the call from a stranger who knew he was the man to go to for bird rescuing.When Mark arrived he found the female Mallard with her nine ducklings - his plan was to capture the mother duck before rounding up the ducklings and taking them to the Almondell to release.Mark Begg said: “I’ve rescued ducks loads of times, but this was the first family of ducks I saved this year.“Unfortunately mallard ducks can be pretty stupid, they nest in industrial estates ages away from the water - which can be a problem when ducklings arrive as they have to navigate around seagulls, cars, foxes, and just about everything to get to the water.However the mother duck proved too quick and Mark’s net too small - flying off and out of sight.Mark, with the help of the local women, rounded up the nine little ducklings into a cat carrier - they wouldn’t stop quacking, calling out for