SHEEPDOGS herding ducks was the big attraction at a town's country show.
It was the first time in the annual Keyworth Show's 40-year history that the organisers have held a duck-herding event.
And organiser Sue Calladine, 54, said it really drew in the crowds.
"It's fantastic," she said. "A lot of people haven't seen it before. And that's what we wanted to try to do – create something different."
Competitors and their dogs were required to herd around ten ducks through a course before neatly shepherding the birds into a pen.
Bill Veryan, 71, who had travelled to the show from Huthwaite to meet up with friends, said: "I've never seen anything quite like it. At first I thought it was a joke. The dogs are incredibly obedient."
The show – which funds itself through collecting money from entry tickets – saw more than 3,500 people walk through its gates to enjoy the soaring temperatures and visit the food and craft stalls.
Site manager Nigel Millband, 47, said: "We tried to do things a bit differently this time by splitting the site up into separate areas – one section for children's activities, another for animals, for example, and I think it has worked well."
One man who had his work cut out with the children was 45-year-old juggler Andy Vass from TheCircusWorkshop.com.
He said: "We've got the fantastic weather, but it's hard work in this heat."
Mr Vass held workshops offering to teach children to walk on stilts, spin plates, or, for the more daring, how to juggle knives.
Favourite activities for the more elderly generation of visitors was the classic car competition and the horticultural show which this year was held inside the village hall. "I've enjoyed the flowers being inside this year," said Irene Duper of Widmerpool. "It would have been far too hot if they had been in the heat."
Meanwhile Keyworth resident Tom Atack had a stall at the show and was canvassing public opinion on proposals to build a £100,000 activity park for youngsters in Keyworth.
Mr Atack, 40, said a group of villagers had been planning the proposals for the last four years after residents said they wanted an activity park in the parish council's action plan carried out in 2009.
Funding has been secured, but last Monday, July 8, the parish council rejected the plans because they did not want to build on the recreation site where the show is held every year.
"We might be back to square one," said Mr Atack.