Birds at Strand on the Green put on a healthy diet

Swans at Strand on the Green – Photograph of the day by Bridget Osborne

Swans at Strand on the Green

Feed the birds at Strand on the Green – but don’t give them bread

The wild birds which populate the River Thames at Strand on the Green have been put on a diet.

Local residents, observing the number of people who come and feed them bread, have launched a campaign with Strand on the Green Junior School to give the birds better nutrition.

Posters designed by children at the junior school have been going up along the river suggesting to passers-by that if they want to feed the ducks, swans, cormorants and coots which gather along the strand looking for food, that they should feed them rice, peas, sweetcorn, porridge oats or lettuce, but not bread.

Poster by Strand on the Green Juniors Year 5 student, in Miss Maynard’s class

The Strand on the Green (residents) Association (SOGA) have taken the advice on diet from the London Wetlands Centre, run by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

Bread is often the first choice of food people give to birds, but birds receive very little nutrition from it. Bread can swell in a duck’s crop, making them feel full but unable to digest properly, and can lead to choking. If they fill up on bread they may die from malnutrition, especially in the winter when there is little other food available.

Stale bread with mould can also cause the lung disease Aspergillosis, and feeding ducks bread can also cause ‘Angel wing’, a deformity where the wing is twisted and the feathers point outward, making the duck unable to fly.

Posters by Strand on the Green Juniors Year 5 students, in Miss Maynard’s class

Five posters have been printed and hung along the Thames Path along the Strand to encourage everyone to stop feeding the birds bread. The posters have been designed by Isla, Salem, Matty W, Atousa, Vladi, Ellie, and Kolka.

“Fabulous pictures were entered and the Association picked the best to be used in the information board designs”, SOGA committee member Lucy Cufflin told The Chiswick Calendar.

When the posters were unveiled on the riverbank a big cheer went up from the school children and residents who had come to see the unveiling.

Students from Strand on the Green Junior School at the unveiling of their posters along the river

“It was such a lovely atmosphere to see the children genuinely excited to see their art on public display but also they knew that they were making a difference to the area where they live.

“It was a great collaboration between the Association and the school and hopefully we can all better understand and co-exist with the nature around us”.

It is as easy for local residents to take a bag or rice or peas to the riverside as it is to take bread, and visitors can buy bird food from the Bell & Crown or the City Barge.

Read more stories on The Chiswick Calendar