THE new interpretive panel on the riverbank at Waitrose in Marlborough beautifully illustrates the many wild birds that are regularly seen on River Kennet in town and is full of interesting facts, including what makes up their natural diet.

Six million loaves of bread are thrown into rivers and canals each year. Bread is not a healthy food for ducks – it causes water pollution, encourages the growth of slimy algae and attracts rats.

ARK strongly promotes the concept ‘Keep Wildlife Wild’. Water vole, grey heron, moorhens, ducks, dabchicks and brown trout are just a few of the creatures that visitors to the river in Marlborough can see.

In years gone by families would take the odd crust of bread to feed the ducks but nowadays a larger population of people regularly take loaves of bread, in such quantities that it is left for the rats. Rats eat duck eggs and ducklings. Rats can carry and transmit the fatal Weil’s disease to humans and dogs.

There is plenty of natural food in and by the river for the wild water birds: plants, seeds, berries and invertebrates. It is not necessary to feed ducks with bread. For more information please visit http://www.riverkennet.org/campaigns/keepwildlifewild or https://canalriver trust.org.uk/keeping-our-ducks -healthy.

CHARLOTTE HITCHMOUGH, Director, Action for the River Kennet