
18/03/2025
We got called to a mallard earlier today with a plastic ring around her neck. The caller contact the team at Stanborough lakes (Welwyn Garden City) who let me know about her. The finder had attempted to catch her without any luck. When we arrived the flock were already incredibly unsettled and cagey about us near them so catching was not successful.
Mallards are very savvy birds and are very hard to catch when well. Not only can they take off almost vertical from standing they can also dive making rescue of them very difficult. They will almost always evade any capture attempts and we advise not trying to catch them yourself unless they are severely injured or weak.
In cases like this little lady what often happens is lots of people post about them on local social media pages and all local residents pop by trying to catch the bird resulting in stress to the animals and unsuccessful captures by rescue teams. Some birds also vacate the area due to the stress. If your local please don’t attempt to capture this duck, both myself and the stanborough park team will be monitoring her closely and will attempt rescue intermittently to avoid stressing her out. She is still able to eat and drink no problem. With any luck we will get her or she will manage to work the plastic off without getting her beak trapped.
Thanks for all your understanding.