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The Independent
07-07-2025
- General
- The Independent
Loose peacock waking neighbours at 5am and destroying vegetable patches: ‘He's very annoying'
A noisy peacock is causing chaos in a small town by climbing on roofs, pecking on windows and tearing up vegetable patches. The bird, named Percy by locals, wakes up residents in Marlborough, Wiltshire, at around 5am every day with a 'raucous' bellowing before searching for food. In one case, he destroyed a garden while enjoying a breakfast of lettuce, runner beans and other vegetables, according to residents. "It is quite vocal. People do find it gets them up about half past five in the morning with quite a raucous sound,' Eric Gilbert told the BBC. 'I found it in the middle of my lettuce patch, having a breakfast of my lettuce leaves," he said. 'It [also] likes my runner beans'. The 'annoying' bird has also taken to knocking on windows and doors and has been seen facing down cats and pigeons. Neighbour Angela Newberry added: "Very early in the morning, he taps on the window for food. He's very annoying, because he's got no snooze button." In one video, Percy could be seen walking on top of the roof of a detached house before calling out three times early in the morning. In February, a cockerel owner was ordered to pay more than £3,000 after neighbours repeatedly complained about his unruly cockerel's constant crowing. Officials from North East Derbyshire District Council (NEDDC) attended the address in New Tupton with specialist monitoring equipment and found the bird crowed 76 times in 50 minutes between 5.53am to 6.43am. It followed a previous investigation which saw equipment installed at the property, which found the frequency of the crowing was 'excessive' and continued in high numbers without the day. Speaking to the BBC, one female neighbour who wished to remain anonymous said: "A nuisance, a nightmare, early hours of the morning, crowing. And when you want to sleep at that time of the morning you don't need it.' She added the noise from the bird wasn't restricted to the morning. 'Sometimes it's all day. And I don't think it's right,' she said. Speaking outside court, Mr Brown disputed the complaints made by the neighbours against Brutus. The 82-year-old said: 'My cockerel does not make a lot of noise, he wears a neck collar which restricts the wind pipe and he can't suck in that amount of air to crow, he croaks, it's a croak.
BBC News
07-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Raucous peacock chomps through Marlborough's veg patches
An unclaimed male peacock has become the talk of a rural community, having ravaged vegetable patches and woken neighbours with his alarming early morning as he's been named, first appeared in Marlborough in Wiltshire earlier this summer and has since been pictured on roofs and in addition to disrupting sleep, he's disrupted the local ecosystem, challenging cats and pigeons that stray into his has even taking to pecking on doors in what are deemed to be attempts to gain even more food. Resident Eric Gilbert said the bird had an apparently boundless appetite."It does like a breakfast off my runner beans, and a couple of mornings I found it in the middle of my lettuce patch, having a breakfast of my lettuce leaves," he said."It is quite vocal. People do find it gets them up about half past five in the morning with quite a raucous sound." Neighbour Angela Newberry has also had the pleasure of regular visits."Very early in the morning, he taps on the window for food," she said."He's very annoying, because he's got no snooze button."She said she does not feed Percy because "he helps himself to my veg trug anyway, so I don't need to". Another neighbour, Frances Hughes, said that Percy was very picky, seemingly feasting on the most prized parts of gardens."I think he's quite keen on vegetables but he only does five star dining," she said."He's certainly eating bulbs. He has destroyed a neighbour's vegetable patch."The neighbours have even set up a group chat to alert each other to Percy's while the peacock has divided opinion, locals agree it would be strange if he were to leave.
