With bread, chips, crisps and other human junk food definitely off the menu, what should you be feeding wild ducks in the UK?
Many of the “safe for ducks” food lists you can find on the internet echo this list from the Canal & River Trust:
- Sweetcorn (tinned, fresh or frozen…once defrosted!)
- Lettuce (ripped up into small pieces),
- Peas (fresh or frozen)
- Oats
- Seeds (garden bird seed, or seeds from the health foods section of a supermarket)
- Rice (leftover cooked rice – not sugar coated rice pops!)
As good for ducks as this list is, it may still have a problem. The battle against bread is partly one of educating people about how bad it is for ducks – but perhaps also about finding an alternative that’s at least as convenient to the duck feeder.
Grabbing a loaf of stale bread on the way to the park is quick and easy (it’s still a no though!), but remembering to get some peas out of the freezer and decanting them into a suitable bag less-so. It may only be ever-so-slightly less convenient, but that could be making all the difference.
Also, have you ever tried feeding ducks with garden bird seed? It can have a tendency to sink rather rapidly. Great perhaps for an intrepid diving duck, but you may just be faced with a lot of upended ducks!
In a bid to provide something that’s both safe for ducks and convenient for duck feeders, Quack Snacks offers ready portioned bags of wild duck food without any plastic packaging.
