'Relentlessly noisy' guinea fowl tracked on WhatsApp

A WhatsApp group has been set up to track a pair of "relentlessly noisy" guinea fowl that have been appearing in people's gardens for six months.

Dubbed The Randwick Two, the birds have been spotted all over the area west of Stroud in Gloucestershire.

One resident said the birds were like local celebrities: "Everyone loves them except at five in the morning when they're making a loud noise."

The helmeted guinea fowl were first spotted wandering the area in October.

Since then they have been "doing the rounds" including stopping traffic in Randwick and appearing at schools, children's centres, and in gardens across the valley in Cashers Green.

Jonathan Tucker, from Randwick, said while they were "lovely" the noise they made was "non stop".

"They're relentless, there's only two of them but you'd think there were more," he said.

His neighbour, Jason Perrins, said he had managed to get them into "protective custody" in his garden.

"They hung around for a day or so and then they hopped over a six-foot high wooden fence," he said.

Council workers have also tried to capture the birds but they were like the "Scarlet Pimpernels of Randwick" Mr Tucker said.

"I managed to back them into a child's football net but ended up with just a couple of tail feathers in my hands," he said.

"They're not exactly common-or-garden in this area but nobody seems to want to claim them, so it's a bit of a mystery."

Guinea fowl are originally native to Africa but can now be found all over the world since being domesticated.