Nature reserve in Henfield asks people not to feed ducks

Woods Mill nature reserve in Henfield issued the reminder after last year’s hatchlings continued to exhibit unnatural behaviour due to being fed bread and leftover food. They keep following visitors in the hope of snacks.

The Argus reported on the ducks' bad behaviour before the April bank holiday and has now been invited by Sussex Wildlife Trust to see them in action.

Steve Tillman, reserve manager for Woods Mill, said feeding them bread and the like teaches them unnatural behaviour and “harms the biodiversity” of the lake.

Last year's hatchlings have been pestering visitors

He said: “The ducks and swans are lovely, they have a knack of everyone being very friendly towards them. They’re very tame.

“Unfortunately, we have seen more people feeding them. We have two problems now, we have ducks and swans that are suddenly swimming up to people, walking around the paths following people, not following their natural behaviour, not looking for natural foods but expecting to be fed.”

The trust is also anxious to avoid problems with algal blooms, which sometimes grow in the lake and lead to a “decline in plant growth” in it.

An algal bloom at Brookmill Park in London. Picture by Stephen Craven

Steve said: “You’re also getting bread going into the lake which festers and rots before sinking to the bottom. There is a risk of that causing algal blooms within the lake, it contaminates it.

“At the moment it’s lovely and clear but the risk is with the food in the lake, you get this algal growth which creates a thin film on top of the water.

“Once you get that, you start to see a depletion in oxygen levels, a depletion in sunlight and you start to see the plants and invertebrates in the lake actually dying off.

Ducks following visitors in Woods Mill

“They are the natural food sources of the duck, so what you’re in essence doing by feeding the ducks artificial foods is actually killing off the natural foods they should be living off.”

One woman visiting the park said the ducks immediately started surrounding her when she got her lunch out.

She said: “It makes you very uncomfortable while trying to eat your lunch. The moment I got my sandwiches out, they appeared. Then they disappeared into the water but came back once I got my crisps out.

“They keep pecking at you and you feel like you can’t relax while eating your lunch.

“There are swans as well and if it was swans doing that I would be worried, especially if I had a little toddler which is at the same sort of level.”

Sussex Wildlife Trust said it wants people to “come to the reserve and experience nature but not feel like they’re going to harm it in any way”.

The charity said sweetcorn and green vegetables were acceptable for ducks and other wildlife but they do not want people to give any kind of food to the ducks at Woods Mill.