RESIDENTS in Oswaldtwistle are spitting feathers over a rogue cockerel which is keeping them awake at night.

The bird has set up home at an allotment behind Mallard Place and is driving people mad with its early- morning alarm call.

The cockerel has been running wild in the area for a few months but residents are not sure who owns it

Sleepy householder Neale Thompson said: "We don't know where it has come from but it seems to be taking refuge in an old pen on the allotments. It comes and goes at will and runs around the area and it is quite big.

"It is waking us up about 4am every morning and it has got to the stage where people are waking up before it even starts to crow.

"It was a novelty at first and people were feeding it but now everybody is up in arms about it."

Residents said that RSPCA officers had been called out twice but all attempts to catch the elusive bird have so far been unsuccessful.

Mr Thompson added: "We cannot catch it either, we have even tried a cardboard box ambush but it did not work."

A spokesman for the RSPCA said that if there were concerns about the bird's health it would be removed but officers could not take action without catching the bird.

She added: "If we had concerns about its welfare in the long-term we would want to move it. If it is on people's land and they don't want it to be then we would move it. The difficulty we would have is catching it, as it can just fly away, and also where we would take it - our animal centres are not geared up for these kind of things."

She said that the RSPCA would continue to monitor the situation.