Giant plastic ducks deployed to discourage people from feeding birds

Giant plastic ducks have been placed on a city pond in an eye-catching move to deter people from feeding the birds.

The large fake birds on the biggest pond in Queens Park, Glasgow are emblazoned with the words “Please don’t feed me bread.”

Park officials decided to tether the three plastic ducks on the water on the main pond after signs asking visitors not to feed the birds did not discourage people from doing so.

As well as ducks and swans the large and small ponds also attract birds such as moorhens and coots.

However bread can cause health problems for the birds and there are also fears it can affect the water quality and attract vermin.

A Glasgow City spokeswoman said: “The plastic ducks are not just a flight of fancy – they’re designed to ruffle feathers.

“The sign asking people not to feed the swans has been in place for a long time, but people continue to duck the issue.

“We dabbled with a novel approach and the plastic ducks seem to fit the bill.

“They have become a talking point and people should now know not to feed the swans bread which can also attract vermin.”

Signs placed near the pond urge visitors to feed the birds responsibly and warn against offering them chips, rice, white bread and other human foods which do not provide them with proper nutrition and may lead to vitamin deficiency and illness.

Bird experts suggested people consider alternatives to bread such as oats, peas and lettuce.

An RSPB Scotland spokeswoman said: “It’s great that people want to help their local ducks by feeding them.

“Bread is only really suitable for ducks as part of a balanced diet; large quantities of such refined processed food is not good for them due to the lack of nutritional value, and can fill the ducks up so they don’t forage naturally for food and get the variety they need.

“Of course it can be hard to judge how much bread ducks are being fed by other people, and so we’d advise it’s better to feed them other food instead.

“There are much better foods that people can feed to ducks such as oats, lettuce and peas, so we’d encourage people to feed food such as this to them.”