Things get ugly for mall roof ducklings

A MOTHER duck left her eight newborns - just hours old - on the Princes Mall roof yesterday morning after flying off when staff moved in to save them from hungry seagulls.

The ducklings were lifted into a cardboard box by centre manager Hannah Park and security guard Craig Scott before being taken to the Wildlife Rescue Centre in Fife by the Scottish SPCA, where they will be hand-reared until they are ready to return to the wild.

Donna Watson, the mall's marketing manager, said: "The mum yet again laid her eggs on the roof, sat on them until they hatched and then flew off. It just seems to be something that's going to keep happening."

In May 2010, the duck parade her ducklings through Princes Street after setting up her nest on the mall roof, which is at street level.

And last summer, she abandoned a set of ducklings on the same roof.