WHILE other children dream of having puppies and ponies as pets, a little North-East girl is just quackers about her own feathered friend - a nine-week old orphaned duckling.

Jodie Lea Holdsworth, from Sunnyside Terrace Trimdon Grange, County Durham, has been inseparable from Daffney since the day the bird was hatched nine weeks ago.

She's known her since she was just an egg - a present from her grandfather, Dennis Young, which was carefully placed in an incubator and watched over until the moment the baby bird pecked her way into the world.

Now the unlikely pair are rarely apart and are a familiar site around the close-knit community where Jodie's family live.

Jodie carries Daffney everywhere and gives her lots of cuddles. She has read lots of books about ducks and has even written her own story, Daffney's Tale, about her pet and their life together.

Because she knows that all ducks like a drop of water, she gives Daffney showers in the back yard and, for a special treat, takes her for a swim to a pond at Mr Young's allotment.

As Daffney's grey-brown duckling fluff turns to feathers, Jodie can't wait for Mr Young to make her a collar and lead so that the pair can enjoy walks in the sun.

And it won't be long before they have another beak to feed. Two days ago, Jodie saw another egg hatch in the same incubator in her grandparent's bedroom.

She said: "I like Daffney because she is nice to cuddle. I wrote about her and drew pictures to make a book about her life which I keep with my artwork.

"My other duck has just been born, so I don't know whether it is a boy or a girl, but I'm sure it will be just as nice as Daffney."

If Jodie's gran, Gerri Young, minds having the baby ducks in the bedroom she hasn't told the fledgling bird-lover.

Jodie said: "I don't think she will be able to sleep if they are cheeping but she can always move them out."

Jodie's 28-year-old mother, Lyndsey Young, said: "She just loves the little duck. She writes poems and takes her everywhere. It is lovely to see them together.