A turkey is for life... ...not just for CHRISTMAS

Meet the birds for whom Xmas holds no fear, as they take their daily stroll with devoted owner

THEY are the ultimate free-range turkeys – and even know how to cross the road. Every day when the clock strikes noon, this unusual flock is taken for a stroll around town. And Christmas holds no fear for the birds, for their owner Brian Moodie started keeping turkeys in his back garden six years ago to protect rare breeds, and they will be strictly off the menu on December 25.

Retired businessman Mr Moodie, 70, now has 35 turkeys kept in state-of-the-art, heated roosting sheds behind his three-bedroom home in Camelon, Stirlingshire.

He has even trained the birds to be herded by a shepherd’s crook and their daily quarter-of-amile walk around Camelon baffles passers-by, who stop to stare or honk their car horns in encouragement. Mr Moodie, who will be having steak pie for Christmas dinner, said: ‘People are using to seeing them in the supermarket or in tin foil. This is the only town in the UK where you can see freerange turkeys in the town centre. I like to bring a bit of the countryside into the city.

‘Tourists from all over the world come here: France, Belgium, Chile. There’s great interest in them, because I’m on the main road up to the Falkirk Wheel.

‘On a Monday morning when there’s a tailback of traffic, all my regulars toot their horn to show appreciation. People love them. They’re known as the Camelon turkeys. If anybody wants to see free-range turkeys they can – any time they like.

‘They’re just like flock animals – once they are trained to the crook, you have control of them. They are fascinating birds – I love them.

‘I take them out each day at 12 noon. I muster them all and then I take them over to the grass outside my house. They pick up a lot of grit they need for their digestive system.

‘Then I’ll go up to the end of Strachan Street to the high flats. They don’t do that every day because some days they don’t want to walk as much. They are obviously doing what turkeys do – they are down on the ground foraging to see if there’s anything there they can eat. And of course, if one of them finds something, there’s this huge chase.’

The route of their walk changes according to the time of year, and what food is available.

The turkeys also get to stretch their wings – flying short distances in a similar way to their wild counterparts in the jungles of South America.

Mr Moodie said: ‘What they’ll probably do is get to the top of the hill, and then they’ll fly to land beside the garages. It’s about 300 to 400 yards – just as much as they do in the wild to get from tree to tree.’

He admits turkeys do not need to be walked but says: ‘It’s like anything else, they get in the habit of it.

‘If they see you out with the crook, they know they’re going to be going out to forage, and it’s like entertainment for them, so they’re quite happy with that. And it strengthens their wings for flying.

‘You don’t want them to ever lose the ability to fly, because they would then just become the same

as meat birds – flightless – which would be a shame.’ Mr Moodie, who is the Scottish representative of the British Turkey Club, sees conservation part of his life’s work. Buff, Crowlitzer and Norfolk Black turkeys.

‘The whole idea is to preserve the rare breeds that have been going around for hundreds of years,’ he said. ‘Some of them are highly

My regulars toot their horn to show appreciation

endangered. Some time in the future we reckon that the meat turkey will be unable to reproduce. They’re then going to have to refer back to breeders like myself.’

Certainly the local council appears to be on his side: ‘I’ve had nothing but assistance from Falkirk Council. I think they realise there’s a bigger picture.’

But at this time of year does he ever worry about turkey rustlers?

‘I think that’s a thing of the past. The average man now wouldn’t know where to start to pluck or skin a turkey.’

His hobby costs him around £100 a week, but he would not change a thing: ‘I find it very rewarding, and I’d recommend them to anybody who wants a stress-free life, especially in the early, clear mornings.

‘I can understand things a lot more closely since I got them. It is safe to say I’m a happy man now. There are drawbacks – in the cold, wet weather you’ve got to take them out regardless. But I won’t be eating them for Christmas dinner. I can’t eat my friends.’