TALK about a "Daffy Duck"! The mother of the two ducklings in our picture must be absolutely quackers.

For what mum would abandon her offspring to fend for themselves in a busy supermarket car park?

The dizzy duck laid her eggs in a flowerbed at Tesco car park at Horwich and, the day after they hatched, set off with her brood for the nearest stretch of water.

But she left these two behind.

Staff alerted the Wildlife Hospital North West in Vale Avenue, Horwich, after spotting the ducklings running round like headless chickens in an effort to dodge the traffic.

Lesley Brown of the Wildlife Hospital said: "There was no sign of the mother or the other ducklings, only these two running all over the car park.

"It's a miracle they survived the busy traffic. I don't know why they were left, but it could be that they couldn't keep up with her."

The fluffy pair have been christened Tes and Co and are now thriving in an incubator at the hospital with some other orphaned ducklings.

The hospital also came to the rescue of another duck which had hatched a family of 14 in the grounds of Vale House, Horwich, and was trying to reach a nearby lodge via a busy road.

Workers from the hospital transported the young family but the mother would have nothing to do with two of the ducklings and kept pecking them whenever they approached.

They ended up at the hospital where one of them later died, but the other is doing well - along with Tes and Co.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.