Pride and prejudice: roaming peacocks split opinion in village

In a small town there are many things that cause neighbours to argue: political differences, disagreements over hedges, disputes about who will be Santa Claus.

- Raphael Boyd

In east Staffordshire, however, a village has been divided over something more unusual. For 25 years Tutbury has been home to a growing pride of peacocks and hens which, some residents say, destroy crops, leave large amounts of mess and whose distinctive calls can be heard at all hours of the day and night.

George, who owns a patch of land in the village's allotments where crops are fortified in order to avoid being ransacked by the peacocks, said the birds are like "Marmite" in the village. "The people who love them really love them, and the people that hate them really hate them," he said.