Organic free-range pest controllers triggering Balmoral false alarms

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Royal guards get in a flap as ducks set off burglar alarms at Balmoral
By Alan Hamilton



EVERY time the state-of-the-art security alarm detects intruders at the Queen’s Balmoral estate, the police immediately suspect Arabella, Antoine, Parsley, Sage, Rose, Mary and Thyme.

Seven Indian runner ducks, bought by the Prince of Wales as organic, free-range pest controllers for his Scottish holiday retreat, are triggering dozens of false alarms as they roam freely around the grounds of Birkhall, the house the Prince inherited from the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Security at the estate has been upgraded in a £1 million overhaul, including the installation of underground sensors buried under paths and lawns. The system is now almost too efficient.

An estate source said: “The ducks are setting off the new alarms day and night. The seven of them going across the lawn is enough to trigger the system; the noise of the webbed feet on the ground is easily picked up by the sensors.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-1747747,00.html