Ducklings survive drainpipe trip

The two-day-old ducklings did not suffer any injuries in the pipe

Two ducklings had a lucky escape after spending four hours in a drainpipe they had stumbled into in East Sussex.

They disappeared down the pipe on a road between Framfield and Blackboys while walking behind their mother.

Rescuers from the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (Wras) were called out to help the two-day-old birds on Monday morning.

They were eventually caught in a net placed at the end of a pipe after "disappearing a long way out of sight".

Wras rescue co-ordinator Trevor Weeks said: "We could hear them inside the pipe but had no way of getting to them easily.

"We initially left the man-hole lid open but this seemed to make them go back down the pipe, so we left the net covering the pipe and closed the lid."

The ducks were taken to a wildlife rescue centre for hand rearing because the female mallard duck could not be found when they reappeared.