October 15th, 2007 
Nick 
On Saturday morning my wife and I went to Hornsea Mere to feed the ducks – I’m afraid that statement alone says a lot about our so-called “research”. The ducks, geese and swans at Hornsea must be some of the best fed birds in the country, but whenever we turn up with some bread they seem on the verge of starvation judging from the reaction we get.
It’s quite funny to watch the ducks and geese fighting over pieces of bread and the odd Coot or two manages to get involved, although they seem to get chased off pretty quickly. There is a Whooper Swan which must be injured or something which is always present at Hornsea but today there were 3 more Whooper Swans which were obviously genuinely wild birds as they were fairly shy when approached by humans.
However, it is the Mute Swans that are the bosses at Hornsea and 4 of these approached the car, where we were sitting and feeding the ducks from, and violently pecked any ducks that snatched bread from their feet. Some ducks were braver than others and showed their boldness by jumping into the air to grab bread, and the bravest of all snatched pieces of bread that fell upon the swan’s back.
Quite a number of Black-headed Gulls also turned up and these were able to catch morsels of bread that were thrown into the air. However, the Common Gulls and Herring Gulls that were also present didn’t seem to have the agility to catch bread in mid air.
Other species that were in the vicinity were Tufted Duck, Pochard and Pied Wagtail and a couple of Jackdaws and a Carrion Crow joined in the feeding frenzy.
With our 2 loaves of bread, the ducks got something of a banquet today, particularly with a couple more car loads of people also feeding them. Some of the children that arrived to feed the ducks were scared stiff of the aggressive swans and got chased around by hungry wildfowl whilst clutching their bread slices.
My wife and I came to a conclusion from our ornithological studies: Ducks like bread. Although we wouldn’t like to jump to conclusions and suggest further research on this subject is necessary – take a loaf of bread to your local duckpond and see if your results lead you to the same conclusion.
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Yes, a point well made about not throwing bread into the water and certainly seed or grain is far better food for wildfowl. In fact many people at Hornsea Mere do bring grain to feed to the wildfowl including ourselves.
The point about water quality is also worth remembering and I have seen a pond in Greenwich park in London which is putrid for this very reason. However, I can’t really see it being an issue in a lake as huge as Hornsea Mere.
On the subject of your research into wildfowl/helping the birds/ducks like bread
Just a note on the bread…
It is said that there are several reasons why feeding bread is not good for wildfowl.
1) it is believed to cause enteritis (a bacterial stomach bug) which although not fatal, weakens the bird, causes a decline in its health (& fitness), and can ultimately lead to death.
2)On lakes or ponds (particularly enclosed waters) especially at popular feeding sites where a lot of bread is offered, it causes enrichment of water (due to the constituents of the bread & what comes out of the ducks etc. after it is digested), leading to eutrophication (lack of oxygen, algal growth), and ultimately death of the plants/invertebrates/fish that the whole food chain/web depends upon.
Most conservation organizations recommend that seed is fed instead. Ideally, this seed (or any food) should not be left on the bank where it can deteriorate and decay, as this can have bad consequences for birds which eat it.