A tribute to cockerels everywhere

COCKERELS have fascinated me ever since, as a boy, I spent five years working on a pig and poultry farm.

Apart from being extremely colourful, they were very, well....er, cocky.

Strutting around, marking their territory, adopting proprietorial claims over their henfolk, and fighting off all intruders and pretenders, they were aggressive maleness personified.

Several times they attacked me, digging their spurs into my wellington boots and pecking my behind. In their own ridiculous way, they demanded respect, and generally got it.

I also liked the way they heralded every new day, raising their heads towards the rising sun and yelling their hallelujahs.

This picture, called Cockerel in Blue, is a tribute to cockerels everywhere, in the hope that they continue to crow their salutations to every new dawn.