Uni's building work not a problem for mallard (From Gazette)

Uni's building work not a problem for mallard

10:00am Tuesday 16th March 2010 in

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DESPITE students complaining about noisy building work on campus, for one university resident, the loud drilling is just water off a duck’s back.

Students held a protest demanding the work is stopped during exams, but it has not disturbed a female mallard duck, nesting on a block of concrete for the past four weeks at Essex University’s North Towers.

Sat in the middle of a building project to build new teaching space at the Wivenhoe Park campus, the duck is unfazed by the diggers, drilling and banging from builders and has been calmly waiting for her eggs to hatch.

Michael Willis, project manager, said: “We have all been working around her, lifting paving slabs and driving big diggers about.

“It’s good to see the wildlife on campus hasn’t been disturbed.”