Video: Feathers fly over passion-fuelled peacock ... for the second time
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Residents in Handcross were startled to see the all-white bird wandering onto rooftops, into gardens and into a local pub car park, but now - almost a year to the day - the bird has been at it again.
The peacock - dubbed Bertie by locals - is thought to have returned to his old haunts in a hunt for a mate.
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Hide AdAnd while the sight of lovelorn Bertie roaming village streets has delighted many, it has also led to annoyance for some over the racket he has created with his loud cries.
Bertie hopes to attract a mate with his calling and by fanning his pure white feathers - despite there being no peahens within miles of the village.
Last year Bertie ended up being ‘rescued’ and taken off to a bird sanctuary in Paddock Wood, Kent, where he was eventually tracked down and brought home by owner Jo Wilding from nearby Slaugham.
Now, after several days of once more entertaining villagers with his antics, Bertie is again ruling the roost at home where owner Jo is hoping to find him a mate.
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Hide AdJo said: “He is quite nomadic and very curious. He is free-range so he stays here because he wants to.
“Bertie always wants to know what you are getting up to, always looking through the window, and if you leave the door open he will be on the kitchen counter.
“He was basically looking for a mate, that’s why he shouts and displays his feathers.
“The females usually come running but nothing turned up here so that’s why he takes himself off to the village. When he came back, he hopped back into his tree and that was that.
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Hide Ad“If he leaves again, I will despair. He is a lovely beautiful bird.”
Tessa Fenter was among villagers who spotted Bertiegoing along Horsham Road to St Martin Close in Handcross on Sunday afternoon before he roosted on a roof for the night.
“He made the occasional call and my friend contacted his owners who told her that they brought him back from the centre who took him in last year (in Paddock Wood).
“He had wandered again as he was looking for a mate, and when he was collected yesterday morning he was returning to ‘a bride’, who has been brought in for him.”