YOU might think he's quackers, but a Gwent man was so determined to save a stranded duck that he spent five hours in freezing conditions to free it.

Kris Britton, 25, has been a volunteer at the Owl Sanctuary at Festival Park in Ebbw Vale for three years.

At 9.00am on Tuesday, the sanctuary received a call from Gwent Wildlife Trust following a report that a domestic duck was trapped on Blaina's Cwmcelyn pond, which had frozen over the night before.

Mr Britton and his fellow volunteer, Carl Howells, immediately headed to the scene armed with poles and nets. They believed the operation would only take half an hour but the duck, who was in shock with the cold, could not be coaxed away from the pond.

It meant that Mr Britton, from Abertillery, had to break into the ice, with water up to his shoulders, to rescue the helpless duck.

He said: “This year’s been so cold, and I didn’t really want to go in. I was completely red.

"I thought I’d just have to stick the net over him and the job would be done.

“The duck was on top of the ice, but it was that cold and exhausted that it had gone down on its chest and couldn’t get back up.

“The guys tried to talk me out of it, but it had to be done. The duck wouldn’t have seen the night otherwise.”

The delicate operation took five hours and the duck was immediately taken back to the sanctuary's treatment room, where it has since been able to warm up and settle down.

It will be kept at the sanctuary for a further week and is set to make a full recovery.

Mr Britton added that the incident is the latest in a long line of domestic ducks struggling out in the wild and that the sanctuary deals with between 60 and 70 unwanted birds every year.

He added: “We’ve had a few similar cases in the past 12-18 months, because the ducks couldn’t lay eggs in the cold weather so people just got rid.

"It’s becoming more and more common.

“Wild ducks can fly for miles but domestic ducks can’t get up high enough, as they have shorter wings, so they need to be taken to farms."