Colour Prejudice?

Skirting carefully around a legal minefield that demonstrates our clear colour prejudice, we are delighted to announce that a some new white ducks have been introduced to the pond at Church End.

Classically, Haddenham has a long association with the Aylesbury duck — the white, long necked variety that was bred in the village for many years in previous centuries. Many people used to breed Aylesbury ducks keeping them on the various village ponds around the Haddenham. A thatched a duck house stood by the pond at Church End to stop the ducklings getting wet and this earned the village the name 'Silly Haddenham'. Not so silly, though, because apparently baby ducks can drown if they get their feathers wet before they are adequately grown!

More recently, Mallards have come to dominate the idyllic rural scene at the Southern end of the village. But on Monday 5th August, Brian Bowman, on behalf of Haddenham Village Society, introduced six new white ducks — three drakes and three ducks — to the Church End pond. This follows extensive efforts to locate Aylesbury ducks, which are increasingly difficult to source.

Our sincere thanks to Brian and his grandchildren, who finally succeeded in locating some white ducks for us all to enjoy seeing on the main village pond.