The Origins of Duck Density

One day in York, three soon-to-be duck enthusiasts set off to visit Nottingham. While wandering around the Nottingham campus, they stumbled upon the University's lake. They noticed that there were very few ducks on the lake, certainly not as many as York. They also noticed that the lake was siginificantly bigger than the one in York. This meant, they reasoned, that the density of ducks on Nottingham's lake was less than that of York.

Some days later, they considered what the duck density of other universities may be. Given their newfound enthusiasm for wildfowl, this was clearly information essential to choosing one's university. Despite a long and arduous search (all of 27 results from Google), they were unable to find this vital information. To fill this gaping hole, they launched DuckDensity.org.uk.

The People Behind Duck Density

Tim Clarke (left) and Tom Saddington are the creators of DuckDensity.org.uk. They were students at The University of York, where ducks may be found in abundance.

Kirsteen Saddington deserves a mention as she was in Nottingham with us when the idea for Duck Density was formed. She suggested we should measure the duck density, rather than just count the number of ducks.