A British aristocrat has been forced to warn visitors to his manor home not to park cars painted a particular shade of blue on his property, after his "gay" peacock caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to a luxury car it mistook for a mate.

The 'gay' peacock & the blue Lexus

Sir Benjamin says the car was left with numerous scratches and dents as a result of the frisky bird's amorous attack, and he has now put up signs in his carpark warning drivers of blue cars of the danger presented by his bird.

"It started when he fell in love with this Lexus, which was in a very distinct peacock blue and looked like another peacock boy," he said.

"He couldn't control his urges and tried to shag it. He attacked the panels so hard that the car needs a total respray.

"The insurers, Lloyd's of London, are not very happy about it. They've had claims for all sorts of things like lions biting people, but never have they heard of a peacock sexually attacking a car before."

Sir Benjamin has also decided the peacock, whom he named Ron Davies after a former bisexual Welsh Secretary, is gay. "Peahens are brown, but Ron Davies is only attracted to blue cars so I can only assume he's gay," the aristocrat, who has made headlines before by offering to give his manor away and hire his dog Jasper as a "best man" at same-sex weddings, told newspapers.

However, ornithologist Quenton Spratt, at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, has another theory. He explains the peacock might see blue cars as a threat: "I've come across this in the past," he says. "I suspect the peacock thinks the car is a bird. They are very territorial and will try to fight the car off by pecking it, as they would with another bird.

"Blue cars probably compound it, as they associate bright colours with a male."

He added: "Peacocks have very sharp spurs and can do some real damage."