Tiny duckling called Pancake rescued from certain death after car wiped out mum and eleven brothers and sisters

Pancake is believed to be the sole survivor of the accident, which happened on Mythop Road at around 5pm on May 22. After its mother was killed by a passing car, Pancake and its siblings were left abandoned on the side of the road.

But by the time volunteers from Hugo's Small Animal Rescue were called to the scene, all 11 of Pancake's brothers and sisters had fled into the undergrowth.

Animal rescue founder Bailey Lister said: "It had just started raining when we got the call in that the mother duck had been hit by a car. When we got there it was very clear; the mum was in the middle of the road and the ducklings were screaming distress calls. It was a very upsetting scene."

Volunteers spent two hours attempting to lure out the ducklings, but only Pancake was eventually caught.

Bailey said: "We managed to capture one of the duckings as it was running out into the road where the mum was.

"The others will have likely passed away. For the first few weeks they need heat from their mum; she will sit on them to keep them warm and without that they will die.

"From the moment they hatch, ducklings are food to everything, and by the time they're a few weeks old there will oly be two or three left because seagulls and other animals pick them off one by one. That's why they have so many, so they have a fighting chance."

Pancake is now recovering at the animal sanctuary on Smithy Lane, where it has been adopted into a flock of ducklings provided by Hy-Fly Game Hatcheries in Poulton.

Bailey said: "It has joined the others and is eating and drinking well. We want to encourage as many natural behaviours as possible because being in a plastic box with a heater is not natural at all, but for the duck's sake that's what we've got to do.

"This will prevent it from imprinting on people. As soon as it imprints on people it won't stand a chance in the wild, so it needs to learn behaviours from other ducks."