Peacock's pump passion

Mr P, a proud peacock fuelled with passion, is spending 18 hours a day strutting his stuff at a petrol station trying to turn on one of the pumps, British newspapers say.

The randy animal puts on a dazzling display of mating prowess at a service station in Brierly in south-west England for three months a year, in the vain hope of getting some high-octane action with the pumps.

But after three years of petrol station prowling, the bird-brained romeo's antics have been brought to the attention of the local authorities - who are now plotting to capture Mr P and put an end to his preening there.

Ornithologists reckon he is attracted by the clicking sound of the pumps, which resemble the mating calls of a broody peahen, The Times says.

His owner Shirley Horsman says "in spring he gets his tail feathers and he gets frisky, then he goes looking for love".

"He gets very amorous and the clicking of the petrol pumps makes the same noise as a peahen crying, 'Come on, I'm ready!'. Every time he hears someone filling up, he thinks he's on to a good thing.

"It must be so hard for him listening to these pumps giving him the come-on all day long but with no way of relieving that pent-up frustration."

His two brothers are similarly dimwitted when it comes to love.

One appears to have a crush on a cat while the other has been spotted attempting to mate with a garden light.