I live with my daughter Amy in Alresford, close to a chalk stream called the River Alre. Amy is an amazing young lady, who lives with and has overcome so very much in her life. She has scoliosis, mobility restrictions, limited verbal communication, significant learning difficulties, and complex epilepsy that causes her to have seizures several times a night even with medication. I’m just her dad, who is inspired by her every single day and proud beyond words. Together, we are Amy’s Duck Food Table.

About three years ago, Amy had completed college at a specialist unit. As she will never work, I wanted her to have a purposeful, meaningful, motivational activity in her day, just like everyone else. She has always loved feeding the ducks and swans at our local chalk stream, but I had read about the problems it can cause. I’ve seen bread, sausage rolls, and even mince pies in our stream, all of which aren’t good for waterfowl. They can get malnourished or worse – one duck recently needed surgery after eating cat biscuits. Any uneaten food goes mouldy, which can be bad for the habitat too.

Pictured below (click to expand): Amy and Bob by the River Alre in Amy's childhood / The current iteration of Amy's Duck Food Table.

Knowing these dangers, when I was thinking of an activity for Amy, a feeding station seemed like an ideal venture. I got some healthy waterfowl food made from wheat, maize, soya oil, and fish meal. We set up a little camping table by the stream, with bags of food and information about what we were doing and why it matters for nature. Every day, we would make up around 15 bags, then walk with them down to the table. We had an honesty box so that passers-by could donate some coins to help us keep going.

At first, my aim was literally just to make a little job out of something Amy enjoys. But to my surprise the feeding station became unbelievably popular, and very quickly! Seeing this, I built a more substantial table from reclaimed railway sleepers and added a secure donation box. I also researched food that would be healthy for the wildlife and habitat, but also float so that kids could watch the birds eating. The spot kept growing in popularity, and soon became well known to both locals and visitors as Amy’s Duck Food Table.

Pictured below (click to expand): Amy spending time by the stream with her feathered friends.

Amy and I now stock the table with around 70 bags of food each day. The support we have had from the local community has been quite unbelievable - last year, for example, students from Totton College filled, counted, and packed bags of food as part of a work experience project. Local wildlife rescue charities release rehabilitated birds near the table, since they know there is a good source of healthy food there. I think the message is really getting through too, as even very young children can be heard telling adults that they shouldn’t feed bread to the ducks!

We’ve also had some more formal recognition: we received a Community Award from the Mayor of Winchester for making a difference in our area, and Amy won Highly Commended in the Young Animal Hero category of the Animal Hero Awards. The latter put us in the company of people like the Born Free Foundation and Save the Asian Elephant, which was incredible. The absolute pinnacle though, was when we recently had a letter from Windsor Castle saying that the Queen had been told of Amy’s Duck Food Table and was interested in what we had done!

Pictured below (click to expand): A letter from Windsor Castle in response to a letter from Alresford resident Chloe Lord / Amy, Bob, and Chloe Barnham (Amy's sister, who is currently at university) receive a Mayor of Winchester's Community Award from Alresford resident Alastair Hodge.

In addition to all this, the activity itself has definitely been good for Amy’s wellbeing. Carrying food to the table each day helps her physically, and meeting people by the stream gives her chances to practice her communication. She knows individual birds by name, understands their different personalities, and has lovely interactions with them. They, in turn, recognise her and respond to her presence. She’s happier, and as her dad I’m just so happy that it has worked for her.

The popularity of the table took me by complete surprise, but it’s something I’d like to build on. We have a Facebook page now, with over 1,400 followers living as far away as New York, and chat with walkers on our daily trip to replenish the food bags. I love that people of all ages ask lots of questions about the birds and the stream, as well as why it’s important to keep them both healthy. Spreading the word about our beautiful wildlife and waterways, explaining how we can care for them, and promoting the wellbeing benefits of being out in nature are my greatest hopes for us going forwards.

Pictured below (click to expand): Just some of many messages of support left by visitors to Amy's Duck Food Table.

Cherishing our chalk streams

Huge thanks to Bob and Amy for sharing their inspiring story with us! Supporting wildlife is a wonderful thing, and being thoughtful in how you do it can make all the difference. If you’d like to support Amy’s Duck Food Table, you can donate to their waterfowl food fund.

Keen to feed the ducks in your own area? If you don’t have special food on hand, lettuce, oats, seeds, rice, sweetcorn, and peas are all good options. Just ensure everything is defrosted, in small pieces, and removed from its packaging.

Our chalk streams are extremely precious and highly vulnerable habitats. We’re working to protect, enhance, and celebrate them through the Watercress and Winterbournes scheme – why not explore some of its many projects?

We're always looking for people like Bob and Amy who are kind enough to share their personal experiences of our local chalk streams. You can read more wonderful stories, or share your own, through our Tales from the Riverbank project.