New Labour spend £1.3m and 7 years to agree with a 1994 study.

Seven years after starting to examine how to deal with the amorous activities of the ruddy duck, at a cost of £1.3m New Labour has decided to spend a further £2 million shooting them.

This decision agrees with a Department of the Environment study in 1994 which had said that shooting was the answer.

The ruddy duck, a North American species, was introduced to Britain in the 1940s by the British conservationist Sir Peter Scott.

In 1998 the Government set up a task force to decide what action it should take.

The group took until 2002 to report, when it said that a Department of the Environment study in 1994 had said that shooting was the answer.

It concurred, after trials that included contraceptives, and said that the ruddy could be eradicated from Britain in 10 years.

It has taken until now for the Government to announce a five-year programme, jointly funded with the European Union, to wipe out the British population of 6,000 ruddies as part of an international conservation effort. (Ed: Good job Ruddy Ducks won't fly in from elsewhere.)

The delay and expense have baffled many countryside groups.

Charles Clover Environment Editor for The Daily Telegraph