Feeding bread to ducks or other waterfowl is not only harming the birds but polluting our waterways. According to the Guardian (2015) we fee six million loaves of bread a year to ducks in England and Wales.

Bread is a carbohydrate and if wildfowl eat too much it can lead to obesity. Bread offers little nutritional value and so it they eat that instead of a natural balanced diet, it can lead to malnutrition.

Rotting bread in waterways exacerbates naturally occurring surface algae, which can give off toxins damaging fish populations. It also stops sunlight reaching underwater plants. The nutrients can also encourage filamentous algae, which grow upwards from the bottom in chains or threads. The algae can slow down river flows, further deadening the environment (Canal and River Trust, 2015).

Moderate feeding of alternatives such as frozen peas or sweetcorn (that had been defrosted) or rolled oats is a much better alternative, or you can buy duck and swan food from bird food suppliers.