A mum and her nine ducklings blithely wandered the aisles of the Standish Spar shop having just ventured down the main road from their pond.

Police were called to help round up the unusual visitors, the mother proving the hardest to catch after straying into the adjoining Subway sandwich takeaway.

Eventually all 10 were rounded up and returned to their more customary
surroundings at the pond behind St Marie's Church.

Supervisor at the School Lane shop, Kath Smith, said: "They were certainly among the more unusual visitors we have had in the store. We have had dogs come in before but never ducks!

"A colleague of mine first saw them walking past the window on the pavement and then she said they had come into the shop.
"The doors open automatically so they must have followed a customer in.

"They were wandering down the aisles in single file and the kids in the shop were trying to catch them. The ducklings were quite easy to catch and were put in boxes in an office, but the big one was flapping about and was trickier to detain.

"Eventually one of the customers got the duck in Subway and chucked a cardigan over it before picking it up. We tried ringing the RSPCA but they were no help.

"The woman told us to ring the police. We did and they took them to the pond behind St Marie's Church which is where they are most likely to have come from.

"Wherever their home is they came a fair distance down a busy main road." Shevington beat bobby PC Clive Rigby collected the ducks.

He said: "Maybe they went to the Spar for some bread or to weigh up the prices against Somerfield's!"