HGV 'rolling roadblock' on M1 saves orphan ducklings

The ducklings are now among 40 baby birds being cared for at Brinsley Animal Rescue

Thoughtful drivers slowed down to help save a dozen ducklings left orphaned after their mother was hit by a car on the M1.

Brinsley Animal Rescue in Nottinghamshire said the baby birds were left "distressed" on the central reservation of the motorway, where the mother duck lay dying.

They were saved when lorry drivers "created a rolling roadblock" and allowed people to retrieve the stricken mallards.

They are now being cared for by the charity, which said it has about 40 birds currently in its care.

John Beresford, co-founder of the centre, said he was called on Friday morning by a woman who had helped another group of birds the day before.

"Apparently a mother duck was crossing the M1 and was over at the central reservation when sadly she'd been hit by a car," he said.

"All her ducklings were crowded round and very distressed, and amazingly some HGVs actually created a rolling roadblock to slow all the traffic down while someone went over.

"A builder apparently gave a bucket off his van, and they scooped all the ducklings up [then] let the traffic carry on with its journey and saved them all.

"It's truly amazing that people would go to such lengths to save 12 ducklings. To get across four lanes of carriageway to save them could have been pretty dangerous, so it's amazing what the HGVs did."