Eaglesfield Park Ducks

Like me you may have been shocked to read the posters in Eaglesfield Park about an attack on the ducks in the Lilly Pond. Madeleine from the Friends of Eaglesfield Park wrote about the incident, and also sent details of their next tidying session at the pond. She wrote:

Criminal attack on Eaglesfield Park Ducks
We are sorry that our first news update for 2014 conveys details of a mindless, cruel and criminal act on wildlife in Eaglesfield Park.  I am sure that by now many people will have heard about the very upsetting incident or seen the notices posted around the pond.  The FOEP, like any decent people, are appalled that three adults (one with a child on his shoulders)  were observed throwing bricks at the ducks and then “flying” their bird of prey to attack the ducks, which were either killed or carried off.   However this criminal act was witnessed.
I have obtained further information and would like to assure you that this matter is being taken very seriously.  The Parks and Open Spaces Department of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the Greenwich Met Police have been informed.   The latter are acting on information received and investigating  various leads.   FOEP will of course pursue the matter and keep you informed.
It has been suggested that a duck house/bird coop in the middle of the pond might provide an area of safety for ducks.  We have already looked into this in the past.  The advice we’ve so far had from wildlife agencies regarding a ‘duck island’ on the pond is that this can actually be detrimental to the other wildlife for a number of reasons including impact on water quality from duck faeces, bread left for ducks and ducks bringing in fish eggs on feet and feathers.  However due to the most recent events we are looking into this again and will review with the Parks Dept. and others what the best course of action will be. We will let you know as soon as we’ve done that.
In the meantime may we ask everyone visiting the park, local residents and clubs to help monitor wildlife security and to report any suspicious activity to the Police.
Lastly I would very much like to thank the person who took the trouble to inform the authorities and for providing posters regarding the incident and their very generous offer of a reward of £100.00.
Once again, I am sorry to begin with such upsetting news.

Everyone is welcome to join the Friends at their monthly meet-ups at the pond which re-start at the end of March:

Is Spring on its way?
We would all like to hope it is, and FOEP are now planning for the arrival of Spring!  We will start our monthly weeding, planting, seeding and tidying up on the last Sunday of the month, beginning March 30th between 10.30 – 1.30 pm.   We would be very grateful for any amount of time you could spare to help us.  It’s not all work – we do enjoy ourselves as well!     If you can join us, could please bring your own tools (spade, garden fork, hand digger, garden rake – sorry!)   Please make sure have suitable gloves and wellies.

In these wet winter days spring sometimes seems a long way off. Hopefully it will assert itself soon, and bring some ducks back to Eaglesfield Lilly Pond.