NINE orphaned ducklings have found a new home after a family rescued them from a busy road.

Emma Blackmore, 30, her husband Gary, 35, and their sons, Corey, eight, and six-year-old Haken, were driving home from a family lunch on Sunday when they saw a mother duck killed by another car.

Mrs Blackmore, of Bowerhill, Melksham, said: "We saw the duck coming into the road with lots of chicks. We stopped and so did the car in front but there was a car coming in the opposite direction that couldn't stop in time.

"The children were really upset when the mother got killed and shouting to save the chicks."

The mother duck and one of the ducklings died but the others scattered into nearby fields off the A350 near West Ashton. Mr Blackmore, a delivery driver and his wife, a childminder who works at Bowerhill pre-school, raced after them and managed to catch all 10. Unfortunately one has since died.

Mr Blackmore said: "We caught five in one field and took them back to the car for the boys to look after and found the other five in another field. "The children were upset because we had just said ooh look out the window at the ducks' when it got hit but we explained to them we saved the babies and they should be really proud of how they looked after them."

The family kept the ducklings warm by putting them into a holdall and drove them to Mrs Blackmore's parents' house in Southwick.

They put the ducklings in the bath and called Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital. A temporary home was found for the birds with a volunteer in Warminster, where they will stay until they are older. Then they will be transferred to the hospital near Salisbury.

Marilyn Korkis from the hospital said: "They did exactly the right thing. The ducklings aren't old enough to survive alone and they would have died without their mother." The ducklings will be hand reared before being released back into the wild once they are able to fly. For a while they will be support fed until they learn how to find food for themselves.

The Wiltshire Wildlife Hospital cares for all sorts of animals, from mice to deer, but warns people to call them in if there is a problem and to make sure they don't pick up wild animals without good reason or if the animals could be dangerous.

Ms Korkis said: "In this case the mother duck was dead but often ducklings will wander off and the mother might be nearby."