Christmas is often a time of year when people feel more generous. This passing year has been unusual, with many people facing hardships and difficulties. Being unable to do what we want, sometimes the only ‘escape’ has been to go for a long walk. Canals and rivers make particularly fine places for walks; water seems to have a calming effect on a tired, lonesome soul. And the waterside brings the additional benefit of the many ducks, geese and swans, which, seemingly unafraid of humans, are always ready for an interaction. You look at them and they look back, curiously, willingly, making you want to really bond with them, to share something more than a gaze. And what better way of bonding than sharing food?

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Feeding waterfowl is the subject of – sometimes very heated – debate. Opinions on whether or not to feed, or indeed what to feed, can be quite divided. One one hand, ducks, geese and swans inhabiting varied waterways within cities are not exactly in their natural environment and the natural food resources they can obtain themselves can sometimes be limited, particularly in winter. On the other hand, feeding them large quantities of human food can encourage them to stay in the same area all year round in unnaturally large numbers. This in turn can cause the spread of disease, increases aggression, and limits breeding success in the spring.

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There seems to be a prevalent misconception amongst the public that all ducks eat is bread, and so bread forms a large proportion of the food brought to waterfowl in cities. Although fresh bread is not harmful in small quantities, the consequences of feeding large amounts of bread and similar foods can be far-reaching. Bread fills the birds up quickly, which means they stop searching for more nutritional food; this leads to malnutrition – especially dangerous during the breeding season. Leftover bread encourages rats and leads to water pollution, causing algal blooms and low oxygen levels. Particularly in stagnant waters, this forms a toxic environment which can lead to outbreaks of a deadly disease known as avian botulism, not to mention the dangers for other aquatic life. Finally, mouldy bread can cause aspergillosis in waterfowl, which in its acute form is also fatal.