AT the moment of maximum darkness, TV declaring totality over Cornwall, we were distracted by huge flapping wings as an apparently enormous object descended on our garden - accompanied by clearly rattled magpies.

The intruder/visitor was a peacock, which descended on our vegetable patch. It spent the day and last night with us (we called it Fred).

It feasted on tomatoes from the greenhouse and traumatised our two cats. It snoozed in our front porch and roosted on our greenhouse roof. It allowed itself to be photographed in various poses! It noisily bade us farewell the following morning at 6am with repeated clarion calls which sounded like a discordant bicycle horn.

We tried to trace its owners - but to no avail - via police/vets/Wildcare Trust, and were informed by RSPB/RSPCA that it would come to no harm, but rather told that peacocks can roam up to 4 miles from home.

We have since concluded that it was flying along quite merrily when darkness fell mid-morning and then panicked.

Presumably, our vegetable patch is the peacock equivalent of Tesco so, hardly believing its luck, it landed - and stayed a day. We were told by the police that Fred has been visiting people for the past month.

I hope his owners find him and try to get him back - he seemed lonely. He is now full of tomatoes and seems to have recovered from eclipse-fright.

Incidentally, we missed the moment of totality on TV!

CAROL AND MIKE NEILD, Revidge Road, Blackburn

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.