Swans are being blamed for leaving villagers in the dark at the same time each day.

For more than two weeks people living in Aldreth, Cambridgeshire, have been able to set their watches by the cuts.

Villager Ivor Kettlewell said the power started to go off for a few minutes every night between 1630 and 1645 GMT.

A spokeswoman for 24Seven said birds come into contact with the lines before landing to roost at a certain time each day.

Roosting area

"They just have to fly into a line, or maybe a wing just clips a wire to cause an interruption to the service," she said.

The existing lines, which are due to be replaced, are not suitable for bird flight deflectors to deter the birds.

"When we change them we will be able to install these deflectors so that will hopefully resolve this."

Open water

She said work will be carried out later this week to protect the lines so they are not so sensitive to passing birds.

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said swans usually feed in one area during the day, flying on to a roosting area at dusk, usually on fields or open areas of water.

He said: "In that part of Cambridgeshire the birds seem to roost on open water.

"So it could be that swans at this particular time with the excess flooding in this area could be widely dispersed, which in this situation could explain why they are causing this problem."