9:16am Saturday 6th February 2010
By Ian Noble
THE aggressive mating rituals of amorous ducks are upsetting visitors to a rural market town.
Residents in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, fear the passionate birds that live around Cod Beck, near the town centre, may discourage people from visiting the area.
The male ducks, say locals, have a wild mob-handed mating technique when chasing partners in the breeding season.
Thirsk Town Council has held talks with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Natural England and the RSPB in an effort to find a ways to cool the ducks’ ardour and ensure the tourists are not turned off.
Town councillor Alan Morton said: “There are so many ducks and they need spreading out a bit.
“The problem can be distressing for young children and we’ve had a number of complaints about this.
“The law forbids us from shooting them or anything like that, so we are working within the law and talking to groups about this.”
North Yorkshire County councillor for Thirsk, Gareth Dadd, said: “Although some people think this is a bit quackers it could actually cause offence to some.
“Perhaps this is a problem that we need to take a serious view on.”
The council is keen to find a humane answer to the problem, but time is running out as the duck mating season starts this month.
New homes have been located for some of the birds, but there are fears they would simply fly back to Cod Beck.
A RSPB spokesman said: “This is quite a familiar scenario with ducks – when it comes to mating they are quite aggressive.
“The local authority could look at a temporary ban on the public feeding the birds to see if that dispersed them and solved the problem.
“I’m not sure of the legal situation when it comes to moving them and they may just come back anyway.
“They would need to speak to Natural England about getting a licence to move them, but it’s an interesting problem.”
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