Locals volunteer to help ducks cross road

By Izzy Hawksworth via SWNS

Residents in the hometown of the real-life James Herriot have set up nightly patrols to protect a flock of ducks which cross the same road every evening.

Locals in Thirsk, North Yorks., - where vet Alf Wight, who wrote the James Herriot books, lived - act as 'wardens' for the 30 or so animals which frequent the town center.

The birds normally start the two-minute journey from a nearby river at around 8pm and will stay in a car park until around 6.30 a.m. the next morning, locals say.

Jodie Wood, 40, set up the Facebook page and now organizes around 15 volunteers who all help the ducks cross the road.

She said: "I made a Facebook group asking if anyone wanted to help me with the ducks and it's just gone viral - it's got over 2,000 people in it.

"I have around 15 helpers and we create a rota to see who can help.

"They come up at about 8 p.m., it's a two-minute walk so we walk with them and wait to see where they want to go and put the cones around them.

"It's so they don't get run over or anything like that.

"Sometimes we get drunk revelers trying to touch them, mess with them and walk through them.

"But 99% of the time it's fine and people just come to chat and take pictures, but you do get the odd one."

The ducks first started going to the town center around two months ago and Jodie, a duty hotel manager, set up the group after a few of the ducks were killed.

But since she set the Facebook page up, there has been "no fatalities."

Jodie said: "I made the group because we lost a mum and two ducklings, as they got ran over.

"There was also a white duck and they got ran over while crossing the road.

"Now the ducks are all brown and are the same color as the cobbles, so you can't really see them as much.

"But we've not had any fatalities since we started the group and had the volunteers."

Jodie, who also runs a chocolate-making business, believes the ducks are leaving the river at night because there is a mink nearby.

She said: "We think there is a mink down there.

"I had a walk last night and put my phone down there, but couldn't see anything but we think it could either be a mink or there could be an otter down there.

"We think it could also be a cat or a fox, but we aren't a 100% sure.

"I've lived here all my life and I've never seen this before.

"Something is scaring them away."

The group are now hoping to have signs that will warn drivers and other visitors to the area about the ducks.

Jodie said: "We want simple duck signs - a lot of other towns have them but we don't have any.

"If and when the ducks stay at the river, then they would be taken down.

"It would be a bit of a help really."

Vet Alf Wight, who wrote the autobiographical James Herriot books, lived and worked in Thirsk during the 1940s.

His home is now a visitor attraction and popular with fans of the current TV series.