This is the heartwarming moment a newborn duckling who fell 5ft down a storm drain was finally reunited with its quacking mother. The tiny duckling, born just days earlier, had fallen through a grid onto a pile of twigs and debris at the bottom of the by the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in Diggle, in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

Thanks to help from a worker who had just finished her shift at the nearby Grandpa Greene's Luxury Ice Cream, RSPCA Animal Rescue Officer Lee Ferrans was able to free the duckling using a long pole and a net. Now the 's video captures the moment Lee was able to reunite the duckling with its mother and six siblings, swimming just a short walk away.

The adult instantly recognised the chirping coming from inside the box that the duckling was being transported in and swam straight towards it quacking.

The duckling swam away with her mum and siblings, with the family now believed to be doing well on the canal, added the RSPCA.

Lee added: "A little crowd had gathered and as the family were reunited people were shedding tears. It was a really lovely moment to see them all back together.

"I'd especially like to thank the member of staff at Grandpa Greene's who offered an extra pair of hands - I couldn't have done it without her - and to all the people in the area who stopped and were concerned.

"Storm drains can be a bit of a menace for ducklings, especially at this time of the year when there are babies around, and this brood was only a few days old."

It's thought the duckling may have been chased by a dog and the RSPCA is urging people to be responsible and help protect nature by putting their pets on leads near wildlife, especially around rivers and canals during the current nesting season.

Explaining the two-hour rescue on 9th April, Lee said: "I wasn't able to lift the grid so the only thing I could do was push an extendable pole straight down and try to catch the duckling in a net.

"There wasn't a lot of room for manoeuvre and the net kept catching on all the debris.

"Just when I thought I'd been successful, the duckling kept disappearing into a drain on one side and then popping out again.

"A member of staff from Grandpa Greene's had just finished her shift and came across to the other side of the canal to help me.

"I unscrewed the top of the pole with the net and held it down on one side of the drain while she used another section to gently encourage the bird to go into the net.

"It was quite a long and painstaking rescue but we eventually managed to bring the little one back up safely after more than two hours."

Recently we revealed how the with reports of abandoned and neglected animals over winter with a shocking 35 per cent rise in cases compared to last year.

From emaciated dogs left for dead to kittens discarded in bins and even tarantulas dumped in the freezing cold, the crisis is worsening as pet owners struggle with the .