Dunfermline: Where the peacocks roam free

Peacocks in Pittencrieff Park. Dunfermline.

The peacock population dwindled to only one in 2016, but has since been revitalised.

There are now 23 peacocks in the town, who live under the care of the organisation which was set up five years ago to look after the birds.

Chairman of the Peacocks in Pittencrieff Park, Joe Gilmartin, 50, has an eight-year-old plumed bird, Caroline, living at the bottom of his garden and sometimes feeds her cherry cake.

He said: "We have an aviary in the park and that is where the new arrivals and the chicks are reared."After they are a year old, we let them out.

"They have the Freedom of the City, so they usually just roam about.

"They are wild birds so they very much do what they want but generally they stick around the park.

"We've had some appear around a mile away from the park and I have them in my garden, too.

"That's why I got involved with Peacocks in Pittencrieff Park, one of the birds made a home on my street and spent a lot of time in my garden.

"She's had two chicks this year.

"They don't just stay in my garden, they wander the whole circumference of the street."