I WRITE in response to your correspondent (24/04/08) who requests something is done about the numbers of male ducks presently living on the Pavilion Gardens lake.
They create violent scenes and the screaming females can be heard in the nearby old people's residences and by the children playing in the park.
As many as six females are drowned each day, and float dead in the water, before the park staff fish t
hem out.
The lake is hardly child- friendly at present.
I well remember the lake being used for boating and filled with fish; boating and catching sticklebacks (which were returned to the lake as they didn't live outside of it) were part of the pleasure of "the Gardens".
And the nesting ducks were on the island in the middle of the lake.
Nowadays only feeding the ducks is enjoyed by young and old alike, and the over feeding is causing a problem.
During the mating season wild ducks refuse bread - and this uneaten food is floating down stream to feed the rat population, as seen fairly recently in Ashwood Park.
I would like to congratulate the Friends of the Pavilion Gardens, who have joined forces with the council staff to make the gardens such a lovely place to be in. The lottery money was well used, and they have made a real difference.
A few years ago, a cull of the ducks and drakes in the Pavilion Gardens brought a public outcry.
One swan of a mating pair was killed, and reports were made of indiscriminate shooting. It was sad, and badly done.
This time would the Friends of the Pavilion Gardens find it in their remit to arrange a cull in conjunction with the council?
We would be so grateful to see it done properly.
Mrs D Wibberley
Eccles Terrace
Chinley
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