Nest-cam: Duck sets up home in garden centre and eats the stock

The mallard has taken residence at Hampsons Plantworld in Wakefield where she has laid some eggs, to the delight of visiting shoppers.

Staff at the Durkar store were only too happy to cordon off the area with tape to ensure she has a peaceful time and were rewarded for their care by her eating about 70 worth of ferns.

Manager David Jenkinson said the duck arrived about three weeks ago having visited several times in the past two years.

Last year she had 13 and 11 ducklings in the space of a year.

"Customers like to see them and people come and take photographs. The ducklings run under the plant benches and through a hole in the main gates. We usher them around the back where there is a waterway."

Last year Daffy nested on a bench but this time she has made her nest on a shelf of ferns on top of a trolley and is sitting on seven eggs.

"She sits there all day and disappears at teatime to look for something to eat, " Mr Jenkinson added. "She has already eaten her way through about 70 of ferns.

"She just comes back every spring and maybe lives at Pugney's (a nearby water park). We also found two more nests around the back where four eggs had been left."