A tale of two birds...

Birds have always flocked to Shropshire and Mid Wales - but are they our feathered friends or a noisy nuisance?

Jack the Goose has become a firm favourite with drinkers at The Falcon Inn in Hinstock, near Market Drayton. The big bird regularly wanders in for a drink and has even spawned a Facebook page which boasts 250-plus friends. Feathered life, however, is not always so happy,

Over the Shropshire border, a group of cockerels going about their normal noisy business in the early hours has had the opposite effect and divided rather than united a community.

The birds, which belong to Mid Wales couple Roy and Valerie Rylands, became the subject of a court case after the couples' neighbours, the Morgans, claimed they liked a to cock-a-doodle-do a bit too much.

Mr Morgan, a coach driver, said he was falling asleep during the day because the cockerels were keeping him up at night.

Mr and Mrs Rylands, of Rock House, Bwlch Y Fridd, near Newtown, lost their appeal against a noise abatement order yesterday. They have been given three weeks to prove they can keep the boisterous birds under control.

There have been no such problems in Hinstock, where Jack is welcomed with open arms.

While 15-month-old Jack is teetotal, he sips from a bowl of water which sits on its own beer mat, and nibbles pieces of bread while his owners enjoy a drink.

His owners, Sally Barnett and Keith Burgess, who own various birds at their Hinstock home, started taking Jack, a Chinese Grey Goose, to the inn about 10 months ago after pub bosses gave them the green light to bring him in for a gander at local goings-on.

Miss Barnett said: "When we first came in we asked the landlord if he would mind and he said 'a goose, no that's fine'.

"Jack doesn't like beer - he's tried cider, lager and bitter and doesn't like any of them so he just has water. The regulars love him especially the children, who always want to play with him."

Back over the border, David Peat, chairman of magistrates, said it was a case that could have been avoided if mediation between the Rylands and Mr Morgan had taken place.

He said that he was satisfied a "statutory nuisance" existed at the time the order was made last September.

The court had previously heard how there had been a long-running dispute between the Rylands' and the Morgans.

Mr Peat said: "It is regrettable that in a hamlet as small as Bwlch Y Ffridd that such animosity has evolved."