This contented mother duck has set up home in a hanging basket in a Stamford Bridge pub beer garden.

Hanging around: Landlord Neil Townsend and 12-year-old Kelly Fowler under the watchful eye of the nesting duck. Picture: Steven Bradshaw

Her high-rise nest, five feet above the ground, was found by the new licensees of the Swordsman Inn, Karen and Neil Taylor, after they moved in.

Locals told them the duck had nested there when flood levels reached their peak in March and left the pub a foot deep in water.

She is now sitting on a nest of several eggs, leaving it twice a day to gather some food.

Karen said: "She is sitting there all content and people don't seem to bother her.

"There were a few people in the beer garden yesterday but she just sat there."

Worried about how the duck's young brood would survive once they hatched, Karen said: "My husband was going to put the nest on the floor but he doesn't want her to abandon them."

Paul Stilgoe, chief inspector with the RSPCA, said there was no need for concern.

He said it was quite normal for ducks to nest in trees and there was no problem as long as the duck was happy.

"When the ducklings are hatching I would advise the licensees to put blankets on the floor if it is concrete," he said.

"When they are ready the ducklings will jump out and land like balls of cotton wool then waddle off to the water behind their mum."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.