Ducks have caused an astonishing £20,000 worth of damage to the banks of Pickering Beck.

Town councillors say the beck has become overpopulated by the birds which are causing damage when they scramble up the bankside.

Their droppings also leave a mess, and fights have been breaking out as well because there are too many males. Even ducklings have come under attack, said Pickering Town Clerk, Alan Husband.

But the council's plea for people not to feed the ducks has upset at least one young bird lover.

Ten-year-old Nicola Charlton says the ducks are starving because of the signs.

Nicola, who visits Pickering regularly to visit her gran, wrote to the Evening Press because she was worried the ducks were not being fed properly.

"They are not getting fed because Ryedale town council has put up a sign saying do not feed the ducks," said Nicola, a pupil at Leavening Primary School.

"The poor things are thinking 'where's the food'; they could die without it. I was walking down the main street and I saw a duck eating a dirty, mucky wet leaf - the poor things are not finding food. "Why should we not feed them, ducks are living things," said Nicola, who lives at Scrayingham.

Nicola's mum, Sue Charlton, said her daughter had become particularly distressed about the ducks on a recent visit to Pickering.

"She was in a terrible state over the fact that we weren't allowed to feed the ducks," she said.

"She has been feeding them for years and was very upset when the council put up this notice."

But Mr Husband said the town council had worked out it would cost up to £20,000 to repair the damage.

"There are too many of them and the place has become over-populated, because people keep feeding them," he said.