CRT advice to stop feeding ducks bread

[The Toad in the Hole]

You have never seen a bird with angel wings then have you?

 

We have a goose on our marina with this condition and whilst she lives happily amongst the other birds it does hinder her somewhat.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_wing

It's a bit more complicated than that. You see angel wing in other species (for example herons) but it isn't survivable in truly wild animals, so they don't fledge (and you therefore don't see them). Whilst it is a nutrient deficiency issue, this can be complicated by other factors (like environmental pollution at feeding sites) restricting take up of those nutrients - herons fly a long way to feed, so identifying the source is very difficult, so it isn't just an issue surrounding artificial feeding.

[cuthound]

This was on the local radio news this morning. The recommendation was that you feed them vegetable peelings or grass cuttings.

Please don't encourage people to dispose of their grass cuttings in the canal, it will result in the need for more frequent dredging. In the cutting near the beginning of the Ashby canal you can see the evidence of people dumping grass cuttings down the embankment t into the cut.

 

Edited to remove autocorrect induced nonsense!

Edited March 16, 2015 by cuthound

[Athy]

In the cutting near the beginning of the cash by canal

 

 

 

Now that's a cargo I had not heard of before.

The Ashby Canal perhaps?

[Naughty Cal]

Why? I like seeing them on the waterways, they're handsome birds.

You wouldn't like them waking you up at 2am squabbling with the Greylags though

[cuthound]

In the cutting near the beginning of the cash by canal

 

 

 

Now that's a cargo I had not heard of before.

The Ashby Canal perhaps?

 

Thanks for pointing it out Athy, the autocorrecting spelling really messes with me and for some reason I only see what I thought I wrote! Still corrected now to make sense.

[colmac]

Here in Stourport the amount of bread flung in the cut and basins is just plain daft. Would I be a grumpy old man if I suggested we just don't feed them ?They seem to do fairly well on there own.

[Athy]

ame="Athy" post="1531708" timestamp="1426499968"]

In the cutting near the beginning of the cash by canal

 

 

 

Thanks for pointing it out Athy, the autocorrecting spelling really messes with me and for some reason I only see what I thought I wrote! Still corrected now to make sense.

My pleasure! It was rather amusing.

So now I know the name of your boat and I know that you transport cash by canal....it's lucky I'm an honest man.

[cuthound]

My pleasure! It was rather amusing.

So now I know the name of your boat and I know that you transport cash by canal....it's lucky I'm an honest man.

Given the frequency that boats need money spending on them don't all boat owners have to transport cash?

[john6767]

Please don't encourage people to dispose of their grass cuttings in the canal, it will result in the need for more frequent dredging. In the cutting near the beginning of the Ashby canal you can see the evidence of people dumping grass cuttings down the embankment t into the cut.

 

Edited to remove autocorrect induced nonsense!

Don't shoot the messenger, its CRT that you want to take that up with, that was their advice.

[pete.i]

Hi

As I have said before I am a member of the C&RT Explorers Education Volunteer Team and our group at Bingley have been putting posters out about not feeding water fowl white bread for 2 years when we are doing activities at Bingley and in schools etc. People love to feed ducks, geese, swans and other water birds. The children, especially, love to feed the birds so I would hate to see this practice stopped. I can always remember when I was a kid taking huge bags of white bread down to Singleton Park in Swansea to feed the ducks and swans and having a thoroughly pleasant time there.

 

When we are out and about at Bingley Five Rise I always take some small bags of duck and swan food with me to give out, free, to the parents so that their kids can feed the ducks. The stuff I use is called Wild Things Swan and Duck food. The C&RT are starting a campaign to help stop the feeding of white bread to water fowl in honey pot spots like Bingley Five Rise and others. We have been told not to forget to take the posters down when the campaign ends and I am not exactly sure why we have been told that as this is an ongoing problem. Anyway, as you quite rightly point out The Toad in the Hole, the problem is far more complicated than just people feeding ducks and swans white bread but there is not a lot we can do about the other reasons for angel wing. We can educate people that we come into contact with as educational volunteers (not you, me and my colleagues) about angel wing and one of it's causes though and, hopefully, that will prevent at least one cause of angel wing.

[Henhouse]

Yes, they are vermin - just like rats and foxes!

 

Dave

 

and badgers

[c c]

When CRT was formed and looking for fundraising ideas, we devised a complete ready-to-go scheme for them with a special healthy recipe duck and swan food combined with a poster to suggest to folk they buy a bag of the CRT approved alternative to bread (for less than a loaf of bread). Unfortunately CRT turned down the proposal at the time.

[Victor Vectis]

 

Yes, and if Canada geese aren't they should be.

 

Tim

Agreed.

 

Nowt but flying sh1t machines.

What's wrong with using the SI unit of volume, the Olympic swimming pool?

How many Olympic swimming pools equate to a country the size of Wales?

[Guest]

 

and badgers

Not forgetting the human race.

[cuthound]

Don't shoot the messenger, its CRT that you want to take that up with, that was their advice.

Sorry, I didn't intend to shoot the messenger, however you would need an awful lot of ducks to eat the contents of an average mowers grass collection boxbox before the grass sank to the bottom of the cut

[Murflynn]

 

How many Olympic swimming pools equate to a country the size of Wales?

that defies dimensional analysis

[Athy]

Given the frequency that boats need money spending on them don't all boat owners have to transport cash?

Sometimes not for long.

[Victor Vectis]

that defies dimensional analysis

Yes, I see your point, but..................

 

How about using a topographical, 3-D model of Wales?

 

[Peter X]

Agreed.

 

Nowt but flying sh1t machines.

How many Olympic swimming pools equate to a country the size of Wales?

As the size of Wales would normally mean its area, it can't be compared to a unit of volume. However Wales does have a volume, based upon the height of all its land above sea level, quite a decent volume with all those mountains.

If I estimate the average altitude of Wales as 200m (couldn't find the statistic online), multiply by its area of 20,761,000,000 sq m,

then divide by the pool volume (50x25x3) I get a figure of about 1,100,000,000 pools. Do not rely too much on this figure for whatever project you may be contemplating, as 3m is the recommended depth and 2m is the minimum, and of course my altitude estimate could be significantly wrong.

 

Also folks, do not rely on the football pitch as a unit of area because the rules of the game do allow some variation of length and width.

[Victor Vectis]

Some people have far too much time on their hands!

 

 

 

 

 

(Don't we)

[Paul C]

As the size of Wales would normally mean its area, it can't be compared to a unit of volume. However Wales does have a volume, based upon the height of all its land above sea level, quite a decent volume with all those mountains.

If I estimate the average altitude of Wales as 200m (couldn't find the statistic online), multiply by its area of 20,761,000,000 sq m,

then divide by the pool volume (50x25x3) I get a figure of about 1,100,000,000 pools. Do not rely too much on this figure for whatever project you may be contemplating, as 3m is the recommended depth and 2m is the minimum, and of course my altitude estimate could be significantly wrong.

 

Also folks, do not rely on the football pitch as a unit of area because the rules of the game do allow some variation of length and width.

 

You could have saved a lot of workings out, by using the AREA of an Olympic swimming pool. rather than its volume.

 

You also assumed that Wales was floating and its draft was zero, meaning it could potentially float away from the rest of the UK at any time....

[Murflynn]

 

 

 

You also assumed that Wales was floating and its draft was zero, meaning it could potentially float away from the rest of the UK at any time....

now that would be nice, as long as they left the Usk and the Mon and Brec behind.

 

I'll volunteer to cut the Severn crossings.

[Starcoaster]

So those are "angel wings"? Come to think of it, I may have seen something like that but did not know the name for it (apart from "Canada goose" I mean.)

Is there a link between this wing configuration and a bird's fat intake?

This bird's fat intake has definitely contributed to a condition I call "bingo wings..."

[Peter X]

Some people have far too much time on their hands!

 

 

 

 

 

(Don't we)

You may well be right, although it didn't really take long to do. I gave up looking for the average altitude quite quickly, instead relying on a map showing land above 600ft for my estimate. The other figures were easy to find, and the maths is not difficult.

 

I didn't count anything below sea level as part of Wales, which means I probably left out most of the coal mine tunnels, but that 1.1 billion swimming pools is only my best estimate anyway, with quite a margin for error.

 

I am now literally getting my coat and leaving, to go visit my mother.

[Arthur Brown]

One of the issues with bread is that being a yeast raised loaf the carbohydrates are well spaced out and a duck tummy full of bread doesn't contain the same calorie content as if it was full of hard grain. So simply they starve from lack of calories.