Here I show a picture of an Eider Duck taken in the early evening on West Beach in North Berwick and a Mallard nesting indoors in a garden center in Morpeth.
Forty miles down the coast from North Berwick lies Seahouses the gateway to the Farne Islands, not only that, it must also be the Eider Duck capital of the world. I have been going there for the past eighteen years or so and I'm so use the the little darlings (although, they can be quite vicious at times) coming to the shore line when they see people, as they associate people with food. In North Berwick however they act completely different, the slightest movement towards them and they scoot off into the sea.
Mallards occupy every park with a pond in Britain, here again shelter and food are the predominant factors, but in Coquetdale in Nothumberland they are completely wild, again bob your head up half a mile away and they will spot you and disappear in the opposite direction.
The case is almost the same for Dippers, I say almost, but their is a difference as they don't feed from people being self reliant and wholly dependant on the stretch of river they inhabit, but in most places they shy away from people while in Lathkilldale a popular walking area in Derbyshire they are most confiding.
All these birds are genetically the same, the question is what makes them act so different in their habits?
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