We eat much less duck than chicken in this country – around 20 million ducks a year, as against 850 million chickens. However, the figures are significant enough for duck farming to have become driven by the kind of intensive rearing that is rife in the chicken industry. Ducks love playing, preening and swimming in water, yet at best the majority of intensely farmed ducks merely have access to troughs in which to dip their heads. However, Defra is about to conclude a study into duck farming in different commercial systems, the results of which are expected later this year, and will feed these into their review of the duck welfare code. In the meantime, Waitrose is giving its free-range ducks access to specially designed ponds, which are “flushable” to maintain hygiene.

What about specialist producers?
The usual farming maxim applies: fewer animals, raised slowly and carefully, results in better-quality meat, as well as peace of mind on the welfare front. At Higher Fingle Farm on the edge of Dartmoor, Nevil and Rona Amiss let their award-winning organic ducks naturally grow to 10-12 weeks in flocks of around 600 (as opposed to intensive systems, which rear in units of thousands that will be dispatched at around seven weeks). “The ducklings are in pens for the first few weeks, until they have grown all their feathers,” says Rona. “Then they are off, enjoying themselves, wandering quite a long way in the paddocks and swimming in the pools, which are cleaned and replenished every day. They come in at night to be safe from foxes. We only feed them on organic cereal and I think you can taste it in the flesh. They are also much less fatty than fast-grown ducks.”

How is wild duck different?
“You can’t compare a game bird to a domestic bird,” says Richard Townsend of Yorkshire Game. “Through flying, wild birds develop bigger breast muscles, so although smaller than domestic ducks, they have a greater meat-to-bone ratio, and the meat is much firmer, darker and richer in flavour.” The most frequently shot wild ducks are mallard, wigeon and teal. At one time, many mallard were reared on ponds for shooting, but that practice, says Townsend, now tends to be frowned on as “not sport. Besides, the flavour of the birds wasn’t so good. Now, ponds are made attractive for native ducks to nest on in spring and summer, then in autumn and winter barley and wheat are put out to supplement their natural diet. They are out grazing on stubble, grasses or marshes by day, flying back for food in the evening. Once or twice a month during the season you shoot for an hour before dark as the birds come in, and that’s it.”

Where to buy

Farmed: Higher Fingle Farm (01647 281281; www.higherfingle.co.uk), Somerset Farm Direct (01398 371387; www.somersetfarmdirect.co.uk).
Wild: Yorkshire Game (01748 810212; www.yorkshiregame.co.uk).

Readers' queries

Where online can I buy flour for making soda bread?
Buy Organic Irish Soda Coarse Brown Bread Flour from Shipton Mill (01666 505050; www.shipton-mill.com). Minimum order is 6kg/£11.40.

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