Park’s herons interbreeding … and curried rice gets blame

HERONS in London’s Regent’s Park are inbreeding because someone is feeding them large amounts of curried rice – discouraging them from migrating.

Police are attempting to track down the culprit, who could be a local restaurant owner attempting to reduce the amount of food being thrown away by feeding it to the grey herons.

A newsletter issued by The Friends of Regent’s Park & Primrose Hill states: “Each royal park has a Dedicated Park Officer (DPO) whose role is to be the police eyes and ears in the park.

“DPO Rebecca England is the extremely dedicated new police person for Regent’s Park & Primrose Hill.

“She is even hunting a mystery bird feeder, who dumps huge piles of curried rice by the lake in the early mornings – which is not good for the birds!

“Feeding the birds can affect their habits – some herons have stopped migrating because they are being fed too much here, and the resultant interbreeding is leading to deformities.”

The 60,000 grey herons in the UK are mostly “sedentary birds”, although some migrate to Ireland, France and Holland. People have been keenly observing bird life in Regent’s Park since the middle of the 19th century.

One of the park’s key attractions is a heronry which hosts more than 20 nesting pairs each year.

Nick Spence, 43, a local resident, said: “Whoever is dumping all this curried rice obviously thinks they are doing something nice for the birds, but they don’t need it – they have plenty of bugs and fish to eat.”