11 hours ago
Roaming peacocks divide village where they run wild in streets
'There have been six on top of my car. I've had up to 18 of them in my garden. They look nice but they're a nuisance.'
Les Gladwell, 75, is talking about peacocks. Lots of them. In the North Lincolnshire village of Hibaldstow, the residents share their streets, rooftops and gardens with up to 30 wild peafowl — and opinion is split. To some, the birds are charming neighbours. To others they are noisy vandals with a fondness for shiny cars and shredding flowerbeds.
Peafowl, the collective term for peacocks and peahens, are not native to the UK but with their showy feathers have long strutted across country estates and farmyards. They can live to 25 years old.
In Hibaldstow they have roamed freely for decades and some locals believe the first pair came from a nearby farm in the 1970s. In recent years numbers have soared. Given the population of 2,400 people, there is an estimated one peafowl for every 80 villagers.
