Ducks out of water take to the streets

Jimmy Woulfe

Scoil Carmel student, Mary Moloney, 14, rescued five ducklings she found in the car park near the Crescent Shopping Centre.

She said: “I could hardly believe it when I spotted them.”

Another 10 were found at the Daniel O’Connell Monument at the top of O’Connell Street.

Pat Lysaght of the Corbally Conservation Group said straying ducklings are a seasonal phenomenon.

He said: “They are all over the city. They are usually day-old Mallard ducklings. What happens is that after the eggs are hatched the mother tries to coax her little ones back to water.

“She usually goes ahead and the little ones often get lost and walk all over the place.”

He has released a number of the stray ducklings into the Corbally sanctuary.

Pat said: “If anybody finds them, you have to capture their mothers also. Release them all near water. If people are unable to capture the mother duck, leave the ducklings back in water or a stream near to where they have been found as the mother may be close.”