Recent campaigns have seen people advised not to fling bread into duck ponds, amid claims that it’s not good for wild birds and may attract too many rats.
However, posters have now started to pop up all over the UK, telling residents, ‘It’s OK to feed us bread.’
Too much bread is not advised at the duck pond, yet none at all can apparently lead to underweight birds and even starvation in bad winters.
Concerns are growing across the UK that the ban on bread feeding is leading to bird famine in some areas. RSPB England's Twitter account calls granary bread with seeds as "marginally healthier" than white bread.
The Queen's official swan keeper David Barber said that there is "no good reason" not to feed the swans with bread and that many are underweight as a result of the ban.
A wildlife charity said: "Sadly another swan that may have suffered from the ban the bread. campaign. He was massively underweight, he weighed just 4kg. When our rescuers arrived they were met by a few members of the public who said they were told to stop feeding bread.”
The swan apparently starved to death and sadly died in transit.
Some lakes do not hold much natural food and the birds have come to depend on food from humans. Feeding the ducks, geese and swans has been an old tradition stretching back centuries.
Bread is not the greatest nutrition for wild birds but it’s better than nothing – especially in the harsh winter months. However, sweetcorn, porridge oats and defrosted frozen peas as well as birdseed, are a better alternative.
Songbird Survival: winter is coming don’t forget the put some seed out for the robins, wrens and goldfinches etc too in the garden…
As with most things in life, common sense is required when it comes to feeding the birds on the local lake or in the garden.
Pat Regan ©
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