The perfectly-timed snaps show the poor duckling's mother give a valiant chase in an attempt to rescue the youngster - but to no avail
Yorkshire, UK (BBN) - These fascinating images show the moment a tiny duckling is plucked from its nest by a hungry heron while its desperate mother helplessly chases after them.
Christian Rawson spotted the heron at Adel Dam Nature Reserve outside Leeds, Yorks, and trained his camera on it because he thought it was poised to catch a fish, reports Daily Mail.
But the 52-year-old was left stunned when the giant bird dive-bombed a three-week-old mandarin duckling, seized it in its beak and made a swift getaway.
'But I did feel very sad for the duckling at the same time - it must have been just a few weeks old.
'It's the circle of life isn't it? A lot of people have seen the picture and say it's cruel or inhumane but it's just nature as far as I'm concerned.
'I was just walking around the nature reserve with my camera and I spotted the heron. There were a lot of people at the dam bird watching.
'I could see the heron and I was waiting for it to take a photo of it. It must have been about 60 or 70 feet away so I was using my long lens.
Christian said: 'I just took the shots and a guy who was out with his wife said to me 'I'm sure it had a fish in its mouth'. When I looked back I could see it was a duckling.
'I had the camera focused on the heron from afar and I couldn't really see what was going on or what I was shooting at - the reeds were in the way.
'I just saw the heron spread its wings and swoop and I thought it was going to catch a fish. When I looked back at the pictures I realised it had taken the duckling.'
The photo shows the heron swiping the little bird, with its helpless mother diving across in an attempt to save her young before dropping back into the water in defeat.
Christian added: 'I know it's sad but if the heron didn't eat it then it would probably starve to death.'
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