Do you remember feeding ducks at your local pond?

It seems that every child is taken to the park, canal or river, clutching a bag of crusts and left over bread. The ducks know the routine.

They swim across and gobble up the pieces, many of which are thrown haphazardly and land a long way from the hungry birds. It doesn’t seem to matter. More children will be along soon with more bread.

The mallard drake was brought into care a few weeks ago. He was wrapped in a blanket, but the lady said he had a broken leg.

Before unwrapping the bird we prepared the splint and tape to repair the fracture. The duck didn’t co-operate, making it a difficult fiddly job, but at last we had a presentable support.

At first the bird didn’t stand on that leg and spent most of his time lying in the cage. He ate well though, and after a week he was hobbling around. Some birds are very panicky when injured and caged, but this duck was remarkably quiet.

The splint was removed to check progress. We could feel the callus but there was still some movement at the site of the fracture.

The splint was replaced for another two weeks, and when it was taken off the next time we moved the duck to an outdoor enclosure.

He became more mobile, and really enjoyed swimming in the paddling pool. This was good therapy for him. He preened his beautiful feathers till they shone.