Powys couple's noisy cockerels land them in court

A Mid Wales couple have been taken to court - because their cockerels like saying cock-a-doodle-do a bit too much.

Roy and Valerie Rylands appeared at Welshpool Magistrates Court yesterday.

Neighbours say the couple's cockerels are keeping them up at night - with noise recording devices recording 74 different crowing incidents in a seven-minute period on one day in August last year.

Mr Rylands, 67, and his 69-year-old wife, of Rock House, Bwlch y Fridd, near Newtown, are appealing against a noise abatement notice issued by Powys County Council last September.

Jonathan Salmon, representing the council, said noise monitoring devices were put in place inside neighbour Roger Morgan's home to measure the sound which he said continually woke him and his wife up.

Mr Salmon said: "Mr and Mrs Rylands have about 52 hens and a further five or six cockerels. We were contacted by a neighbour who was complaining that the cockerels were making loud noises in the middle of the night and early morning.

"One of the problems with cockerels is that they compete with each other to be the loudest."

The court heard that on September 21 last year, an environmental health officer sat in his car near the Rylands's property with his driver's window open and recorded 112 different incidents of crowing in 20 minutes.

The officer then went into the Morgans' bedroom and, with the window open, noted the cockerel crows were "intrusive, incessant and sufficient to disturb sleep".

The case has been switched to Llandrindod Wells Magistrates Court and was expected to conclude today.