The thief who has been raiding 75-year-old Fred Miller’s duck eggs can be revealed - a young fox.

Widower Mr Miller has encouraged wild ducks to breed on his land for years. But he was baffled when they failed to produce a single duckling this year.

Convinced that the eggs were being stolen from his garden in Ashford Road, High Halden, he built a trap to catch the culprit.

After baiting his home-made cage with chicken drumsticks the mystery was solved when he caught a young fox - and the next night he trapped another.

“I have never had trouble before with foxes and think it must be a combination of lack of wild rabbits they would normally feed on, and a good breeding season for the fox,” he said.

Despite his loss of young ducks he released both foxes back to the wild.

“Everything has its place in nature and country people understand that they only kill what they need to eat,” he said.