Finningley Parish Council

Newsletter June 2011

Village Pond
Many visitors and locals enjoy sitting by our pond especially when it is warm and sunny, and take a few minutes out of their day to pause and watch the world go by, we all love to watch the ducks being fed by the young and old alike.

Sadly though the appearance of the village pond has been a cause of concern to the Parish Council. A few years ago we consulted experts including Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, and in October 2010 Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, the consensus of opinion being that the water is coloured by algae which thrives due to the high concentration of duck faeces (and to a lesser extent, by uneaten bread). In the wild, ducks will start to leave a pond when the food will no longer cater for them all. Here, whilst in the opinion of the experts the oxygen content of the water is virtually nil and hence will not support living food for them, with the amount of bread given to them and other food which they find, they survive – in a fashion.

Overfeeding with bread has been shown to cause botulism in wildfowl as the uneaten bread decays and can then produce the bacteria which cause this disease. This is an extremely distressing and debilitating illness which causes paralysis and often results in the birds dying a drawn out death in a mess of their own faeces. In addition, over-feeding wildfowl with bread can result in dietary problems, resulting mainly from a lack of protein, and obesity which can significantly reduce life expectancy.

Bread wrappers have also been found, sometimes on the ground but often in the water. In extreme cases these can get tangled around the necks and legs of wildfowl and cause drowning.

Feeding ducks in an urban location almost always results in an increase in rats in the area due to the amount of food that is deposited on the side of the pond. Rats have been observed round our pond when excess food has been left lying around.

In some places around the UK, people have been fined for littering when they feed ducks as technically dropping bread is littering, however, Finningley Parish Council currently have no plans to introduce these measures here.

In summary, we want the pond to be a focal point that all can enjoy and for it to be an asset to our village for many years to come. Remember, whilst ever bread is thrown at the ducks, they’ll stay here; as a result, the appearance of the pond water is very unlikely to change. So please, take it easy with the bread. Give them a treat – throw them some worms!

Your Parish Councillors
Only six candidates stood for the seven available seats at this year’s election, consequently there is a vacancy. If you are interested in becoming a councillor, then please contact the clerk for details.