Totally quackers! Traffic grinds to halt as ducks waddle across A232, Croydon Road, Coney Hall

Traffic ground to a halt as a mother duck and her seven ducklings waddled across the A232, Croydon Road, very nearly causing a fowl accident.

Local shop owners and residents, who realised the imminent danger the mallards were in, dashed to the rescue and shepherded them to safety.

The comical moment was caught on camera by Erik van Bommel, owner of nearby bike repairs shop Coney Hall Cycle Works.

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Drivers stopped to allow the ducks to cross

The 46-year-old, of Hilda Vale Road in Locksbottom, described the action as “a bit of a drama in the village”.

He told News Shopper: “We heard people laughing and carrying on outside the shop.

“People were yelling, ‘Stop the traffic.’

“The ducks held up loads of cars for about five or six minutes.

“Nobody knew where any water was.

“I had to look it up on maps and people were saying, ‘How do we get them there?’”

Croydon Road, Coney Hall (Photo: Google)

Mr van Bommel soon identified a water source that fit the bill and the ducks were guided to a large pond behind the Wickes store.

He added: “It was quite a laugh.

“It doesn’t happen every day does it?”

As mallards often nest some way from water, the first journey – a long and potentially hazardous walk - can be the most perilous time in a duckling’s life.

Advice published by charity the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds on what to do if you see ducks on the march states: “The mother duck knows where the nearest water is to take her young to, although it may be a couple of miles away.

“In most instances it is best to leave her alone because interference can cause extra stress and risk the mother panicking and abandoning her brood.

Local residents and shop staff guided the ducks towards the water

“In many instances keeping an eye from a distance and shepherding the family across a danger point, such as a busy road, is all that is needed.”