After a while I decided they really needed help, they must have been exhausted, so I found the exceptionally long handled net, that our gardeners use to fish out anything that gets blown into the swimming pool. With this I very gently lifted them out and thought all was well.


Trapped in the Swimming Pool

But within minutes a bigger problem occurred, because before we realised it, they had all jumped into the swimming pool. We think their mother was looking for their dad, who was nowhere to be seen. We had seen him some days before, a few times asleep on one leg, at the edge of the swimming pool.
 

 

The problem then, was that all round the pool, the wall was much higher above the water, than at any of the other ponds. So, their mother had obviously not realised that they would be stuck, worse still, she was afraid of me and the net. Our swimming pool is a large one and she easily kept herself and the ducklings well out of reach. We watched them swimming all round, but there was nowhere low enough for the ducklings to get out, and we believed the ducklings were tired. By then it was late afternoon, and the sun was going down.

I went in search for something that could be put on the top step to provide a way for the ducklings to get out more easily, and I found an offcut piece of plaster board about 15cm x 70cm long.

I took this and put one end on the top step, and the other end resting on the wall, forming a ramp for them to go up. I was not sure how long this board would remain solid in water and decided with Trudy's help to try to send them towards it.