Feeding ducks is ‘killing with kindness’

Feeding the ducks on the pond at Spalding’s Ayscoughfee Gardens has long been a favourite pastime for families.

But those who enjoy throwing their stale crusts into the water are being warned they could be killing the wildlife with their kindness.

Staff at Ayscoughfee are now planning to sell healthy food for families to feed to the ducks in a bid to safeguard all the species living in the pond.

A South Holland District Council spokesman said: “We are introducing healthy food for the wildlife at Ayscoughfee and encouraging people not to feed bread to ducks and wildfowl because it can harm them.

“Small bags of food will be available from the hall, café and gardens games office at a small cost.

“Flyers promoting the food will be handed out and staff are happy to discuss the matter with visitors.”

It’s long been recognised that a bread-rich diet – particularly processed white bread – can cause wildfowl to become ill and, in some cases, deformed.

Now conservationists are warning that undigested bread sinking and rotting can create wider havoc by encouraging bacteria and algae, which can poison other species as well as attracting vermin.

Rotting bread exacerbates naturally occurring surface algae – which can give off toxins damaging fish populations and creating a stench for humans – by releasing more nitrates and phosphates. It also denies sunlight to underwater plants. And the bread eaten by birds creates more faeces, which has the same effect.