Brightlingsea: ’Avin’ a larf wiv Cilla, the chicken wot speaks Essex

10:25am Thursday 26th April 2007

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You're 'avin' a larf, arn't yer?

Cilla doesn't look like your average Essex bird, but the gobby squawker talks like one!

The one-year-old chicken, shunned by all feathery pals and reared in a Brightlingsea home, now seems to have picked up the estuary twang.

Proud owner Jenny Holben of Church Road, said: "I'm convinced she's got an Essex accent. She spent her first few weeks in a box next to the Aga, listening to us and local radio stations, all she heard was an Essex accent and I can only think she's taken it on board.

"Her voice is a totally different pitch to the rest we keep, it's a lot more throaty and she's very vocal!"

And it's not just her Essex cluck that's setting her apart from the coop, Cilla likes to be hand-fed, loves to fuss and even lays a different-coloured egg, a dark brown.

An RSPB spokesman told the Gazette it was the first time he had heard of a bird with an Essex accent, but said certain birds in captivity will imitate.