The interloper

Precisely one week ago I awoke to find a visitor in the garden. This visitor was feathered and very frightened and caused quite a stir amongst the neighbours and resident pets. It was a very young cockerel who I suspect may have been callously abandoned once his previous owner discovered he was not a she.

Francois and his slightly lopsided tail feathers

I must admit I was not thrilled at the prospect of a cockerel waking up the village at the crack of dawn each morning and the ensuing animosity that would be directed towards my house. However I couldn't bear the thought of turfing the wee man out into the big wide world to fend off foxes and cars. I resolved to let the situation unfold naturally over the next few days and just see what happened. Every morning without fail he was bopping around the garden when I looked outside with my morning cuppa. He was quite interested in my two hens, Edith and Petunia but they studiously ignored him. I put the call out after four days for name suggestions and eventually settled on Francois.

Edith and Petunia doing their thing this morning

This morning I took the next step of letting my girls out to wander around the garden with Francois. Any interest on his part was violently rebuffed by the girls who chased him away but other than that, they are fairly harmonious. I'm not sure how this tale will develop but for the meantime it really does cheer my heart to see these lovely creatures enjoying the garden.