A SCHOOLGIRL who asked for an egg incubator last Christmas topped the bill at the country's most prestigious poultry event.

Charlotte Clare, 13, travelled from Heversham with her mum, dad, brother Henry, sister Beth and two treasured Welsh Harlequin ducks to compete in the National Poultry Show among 7,000 entries.

Seasoned judges from the Poultry Club of Great Britain were so impressed by newcomer Charlotte's knowledge, care and skill that they awarded her first place in the juvenile handlers' class, which she entered with her favourite drake, Humphrey.

To her amazement, Charlotte - a pupil at Queen Elizabeth School, Kirkby Lonsdale - also ruffled feathers by winning second prize among experienced adult fanciers in the light drakes class with Billy Webber, another Welsh Harlequin hatched at home in the conservatory.

"She just kept saying this has been the best day of my entire life," said proud mum Angie, who works for the North West Ambulance Service. "She had gone wanting an experience and her brother said she had gone from zero to hero, as a boy would do."

As Angie explained, the family has never farmed or kept poultry - dad Nick works in IT - but Charlotte has always loved animals and kept pet rabbits, guinea pigs and cats.

Her request for a small, eight-egg incubator last December hatched a hobby that has become a fully fledged passion, with Charlotte devoting hours to researching rare duck breeds online, and spending her money on eggs from specialist breeders in Wales, heat pads, duck crumb and a new 100-egg incubator. At September's Westmorland County Show she won first, second and third prize with her ducks at their first outing.

"My husband and I are just so proud of her, really, because of what she's achieved," Angie told the Gazette. "There's no family background for it at all. We were just absolutely amazed. We thought we'd have a little weekend out and enjoy it, and it just excelled anything we could have imagined."

She added: "When we got there it was quite obvious everybody had been doing it for a long time; they were wearing white coats with badges on and Charlotte was just in normal clothes, jeans and a T-shirt - you know when everybody looks the part, and she said, it will just be a good experience. There was quite a big class for her age group - 11 to 16 - and amazingly she won it.

"All these proper old farmer-y blokes kept looking at this duck and lifting it out and they were amazed it had been bred by a 13-year-old girl."

The Clare family now has 14 ducks in the garden, living in small Solway coops made in Carlisle from recycled hay-bale wrap. In summer they splash in the paddling pool, and when Charlotte returns from QES each day Humphrey always greets her.

"When ducks hatch, the first thing they see they think is Mum, so he's bonded to her and that's why he's been such a little star," said Angie.

"He's been picked up and cuddled; he will come and sit on her knee and when she comes in from school he will put his bill on her shoulder and put his wings out to be hugged. He's such a sweetheart."

Charlotte now hopes to improve her breeding stock with three new females she bought at Telford, said Angie, and is likely to pursue a career in animal management.