Gardener grows looks like duck

At a glance, it could easily be a duck, ruffling its feathers as it sits in a nest.

But this incredible image actually shows a marrow grown by Marilyn and Lionel Partridge in their vegetable patch.

The remarkable vegetable even features an eye, after it scratched against a twig, while the 2in stalk perfectly resembles a beak.

Mrs Partridge, 62, said: 'I have never in my 40 years of gardening and growing my own vegetables come across anything that looks like an animal before.

Sitting duck: Gardener Lionel Partridge was stunned to discover this mallard-shaped marrow in his vegetable patch

Marilyn Partridge with her granddaughter Sophie, and Tony Gray from the garden centre where the marrow was originally bought

I am absolutely delighted. The marrow just looked a bit odd at first, but we then realised that it looked like a duck.

'When I saw it, I burst out laughing. It is so realistic. We haven't done anything to it, it is perfectly natural.

'It is in the shape of a duck with its head turned about to preen itself.

'We couldn't eat it because it looked so adorable. Besides, would it be a meat or vegetable course?

'My two-year-old granddaughter Sophie loves it. She kept looking at it and saying "duck, duck".

'Everyone thinks we must have done something to it to make it grow like a bird but we didn't. In fact we completely forgot we had planted it.'

Mrs Partridge, a grandmother of four, added: 'It would be great to grow another odd-shaped plant but seeing it took us 40 plus years to find this one, we won't hold our breath.'

The couple's marrow is now part of a display in honour of Wild Bird Care Week at the garden centre where they bought the original plant.

'When our grandchildren, Matilda, Henry and Finley Doel told us that they had entered a bird modelling competition at Sanders GardenWorld, we decided to take it along to add to the garden centre's display,' Mrs Partridge added.