The Ducks are no longer Afraid

Just been for a walk in running vest and shorts. A pleasant 14C (but probably much cooler than rest of UK).

Anyway, I was standing next to the stream in Hubbard Hills, near some ducks. One of them came waddling over to me and eventually started pecking at my shoes. And the rest didn't move away when I walked very close to them.

I thought this was kinda strange, the complete lack of fear. When I was walking away it was playing in the back of my mind that the ducks were slightly more afraid last year, they kept their distance. Why the difference this year?

Then I had an idea that might conceivably explain this. It revolves around the fact that, at the current time, we're in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak and the country is in lockdown.  So, perhaps readers can figure it out themselves? If not I'll explain in the next paragraph.

Normally Hubbard Hills is very crowded, but in the past 2 months or so, due to the lockdown, it will have been relatively quiet. More pertinently, there are normally lots of children running around. Many of them feed the ducks, but kids being kids, I suspect the ducks are sometimes chased! As a consequence, the ducks will become afraid of humans. But in recent weeks there are vastly fewer kids there, so the ducks are not getting chased. Hence they no longer are afraid.