Furthering our ongoing research into ducks and their affinity to bread, my wife and I went back to Hornsea Mere armed with bread, seed and chocolate donuts. First of all we tried throwing bread, which was very predictably well recived by Ducks, Geese and Swans alike. Coots also seem partial to bread, although they don’t do well when it comes to fight over a slice. Carrion Crows, Jackdaws and Black-headed Gulls also take bread when it is available although they don’t seem keen to get in amongst the ducks. Ultimately, though, size counts and when Mute Swans get together they are able to grab a monopoly on bread and aren’t scared to stick their heads into a car to get at it.

The ducks, geese and swans at Hornsea Mere must be suffering from the obesity trend that is becoming a problem in the Uk judging by the number of people coming to feed them, and it is worth noting here, in the interest of ornithology, that our Tesco’s super budget brown bread seemed to be bottom of the list of preferences. The seed was definitely the most prefered food here with a rugby scum-like battle over it whenever I threw out a handful. However, Canada Geese show a marked preference for chocloate donuts, which were avoided by all other birds. It is likely that waterbirds do not often get the opportunity to taste chocolate donuts, but why Canada Geese have an affinity for them demands more investigation. Perhaps it is something to do with their transatlantic origin.

Having got a little bored with the ducks I started to throw pieces of bread into the sky for the gulls to catch and within seconds there was a cloud of them above our heads – a dangerous situation. In ana attempt to get some pictures I just pointed my digital camera towards them and held down the button when on action mode. I got some reasonable photos after selective cropping and enhancing in photoshop – this is the magic of digital cameras, even photographic neanderthals like myself can get some good shots.