Peacocks Send Feathers Flying

Villagers are in a flap after their tranquillity was shattered by an invasion of more than a twenty wild peacocks.

The strutting,ear-shattering birds have infuriated people living in the English village,and are wrecking gardens,eating vegetable patches and holding up traffic.

Eleven have so far been caught by locals using trails of bread crumbs to lure them into sheds and barns,but more than eight are still thought to be roaming the village.

One bird is also believed to have been killed after straying into the path of cars travelling through the peaceful village.

Mystery surrounds the appearance of the majestic birds,although it is suspected they were carelessly dumped at a local animal farm.

One of the major complaints from villagers is that they keep people awake with their loud squawking.

Parish council chairman John Beale said the peacocks are also leaving quite a mess.

"I wandered down the street yesterday and saw five of them grazing at the side of the road.

"As a lot of front gardens are open they have quickly found their way in and caused a bit of a mess.

"Nobody knows where they came from,but there is rumour somebody let them loose."

Despite the mayhem they are causing,he said it was hard not to appreciate their beauty.

"It does add a bit of rural charm to the place and makes a change from fast-moving traffic - though they do present a hazard for drivers when they wander on to the road."

His wife Catina added "They have eaten somebody's vegetable patch but a lot of people have been feeding them as well.They are well-fed.

"They just walk down the middle of the road like they own the place.Fortunately the cat scared them off when they came into our garden.

"Sometimes you can hear them squawking all over the village.They sound like a baby crying and are really noisy."

Millie Turvey,who owns a park on the outskirts of the village,believes a careless breeder tried to dump them on her property but they escaped into the village.

"We have been helping catch them and are doing quite well,but there are so many of them.We have been using trails of crumbs to catch them and the ones we have already have been handed to a supplier in Wales.

"People have been getting quite annoyed about them because not only do they make a lot of noise and mess up gardens,they also seem to like making a mess on people's clean cars."

An RSPCA spokeswoman said although they had been contacted about the birds,there was not a lot they could do to help as they have to make sick and injured animals a priority.