[Jack Aubrey]

While running at Newhaven this morning, I was watching gulls engaged in bullying a flock of ducks that were feeding in the area. The gulls circled over the ducks then each would belly-flop on top of a duck. the duck would dive and surface a short distance away, whereupon the gull would repeat the dose.

As far as I could determine, the gulls were only attacking ducks that were moving closer in to the shore. The larger part of the flock were bobbing about uninterrupted further offshore.

What was going on? Were the gulls just bullying the smaller birds because they could? Seems unlikely - even for gulls! Or were the gulls trying to keep the ducks away from the bread-throwing zone along the Newhaven shore and/or any floating tit-bits from the Loch Fyne and pizza restaurants naerby? That seemed a better explanation - except that the gulls weren't feeding, they were just giving the ducks a doing.
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[Original A1]

Interesting. we were walking along the Water of Leith last Sunday when we spotted 4 male mallards and 3 females. Two of the males were ganging up on one of the females and then it was one to one combat wherein he was trying to hold her head under water.

Luckily it didn't last very long, but it looks like it's bullying season.

[Original A1]

Update to my own post: Having had a chat with my next-door ornithological expert neighbour (aged 94), he affirms that this is typical duck mating behaviour! Glad I'm not a duck.

[Jack Aubrey]

Yep. Un-paired mallard "courting" behaviour is basically a variant spelling of "gang rape". Not a nice species. But even so, it is a perhaps a small victory for the ducks (they weren't mallards after all) to take over this thread from those villanous gulls!
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In the service of a Queen