It was the moment all mothers dread, losing track of your babies and going into sheer panic.

Cambs Times: The tunnel the ducklings had got trapped inside. Dan Martin reuinted them with their frantic mum.The tunnel the ducklings had got trapped inside. Dan Martin reuinted them with their frantic mum. (Image: Archant)

However, all was not lost, because in this case it is the story of a mother duck and a wildlife enthusiast who came to the rescue, to reunite her with her five ducklings stuck in a drainage tunnel.

Dan Martin, who runs “That Wildlife Rescue Guy” Facebook page, helps animals across the Fens.

“Pitch black and stuck, the ducklings were terrified,” said the car sprayer whose workshop is in Wimblington.

Meanwhile, the mother duck had flown up to a house roof to look for her babies, probably only a few days old.

So Dan rolled up his sleeves and went into the tunnel to bring the babies back to safety for the happy reunion.

Dan said: “A lady contacted me via my Facebook rescue page “That Wildlife Rescue Guy” saying she could hear ducklings crying from a drainage tunnel next to her place of work and send me a picture of the mum who had been hanging around for two days going crazy,

“The woman had tried to find the ducklings herself but said the water was too deep for her and the tunnel was pitch black and seemed endless but the cries could be heard from inside.

“I agreed to go check it out and once I waded through the water and reached the tunnel I was saddened to find one little duckling hadn’t made it.

“It soon became apparent why they were trapped inside the tunnel as the opening had a large drop far too high for them to jump up to escape.

“I can only assume the current had swept them down there. After wandering around in the dark I managed to find the survivors and quickly scooped them up.”

Dan said of the rescue, in Ramsey: “I took the baby who didn’t make it and laid him to rest in a bush next to the stream and away from the tunnel that claimed him.

“Once on dry land I loaded the little guys into my car and was about to head home to feed them up when I noticed mum duck on a nearby roof, she hadn’t given up on them.

“I put her babies where she could see them and she came straight to them so I led her away from the road to a safer place and reunited them all. “It was the best feeling!”