THE first of the season's baby ducks have arrived at a visitor attraction, but very nearly didn't make it.

Staff at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, in Washington, Wearside, were faced with disaster when a power cut in its hatchery threatened to kill dozens of chicks before they were born.

Eggs laid by the rare and endangered species at the centre are collected by staff to keep them safe from predators such as rats, stoats, seagulls and magpies, and are placed in special incubators.

About 40 eggs were hours away from hatching when the electricity supply went off for an hour-and-a-half.

The trust's assistant visitor services manager, Neil Watson, said: "The eggs have to be kept warm or the membrane inside dries up. Then the chicks cannot break out and die.

"It was a bit of a mad dash, but we pulled it off."

Workers raced to move the incubators into the staff room, which still had a working power supply, and managed to save all the ducklings.

The first arrivals that hatched yesterday were common white-eye ducks, followed by canvasbacks and a Carolina wood duck.

Avicultural warden Darren Grieves Grieves, 25, is also expecting some new white-headed ducks, which are the rarest and most endangered wildfowl species in Europe.

When the chicks hatch, they are reared in the safety of the nursery until they are big enough to be released into the wetlands.

Visitors can see the latest additions to the trust's bird population on Downy Duckling Day tours, on Saturdays and Sundays, 2pm to 3pm, until July 11.

For further details, contact the trust on 0191-416 5454.

* Other new guests at the wildfowl and wetlands trust were a family of mute swans - including three cygnets - who were given haven at the park after they were forced to abandon their nest at Gilley Law, Silksworth, near Sunderland.